Hela: Goddess of the Underworld
by Psyche102
Summary: Hela always knew she was different. She just didn't know the extent. Then Loki comes into the picture...and SHIELD...and the Avengers... What's a teenage goddess supposed to do with a new family of gods, two brothers she never knew existed, and being watched 24/7 by Earth's Mightiest Heros for any ulterior motives? The story of how Hel's life went to hell. Literally.
1. Prologue

**Whelp. This is something new.**

**Not sure if this has been done before, but if it has… *shrug* Oh, well. **

**This has a unique twist on the Norse myths surrounding Loki's kids. Some of the myths may have minor changes I made to them so that it would work with the story. I liked the idea, and thought it would be fun, and ran with it. So. Here we are.**

**The sentences in italics are French. :)**

**And am I the only one that thinks Loki has a slight anger problem? Maybe because he's the god of fire? Either that or he's bipolar…**

**Enjoy! And remember: feedback feeds me. :)**

**(And yes, I know I should be updating other things, but this demanded to be written. Who knows? This may get me out of my writer's block.)**

**TIP: At this point in the story, Fenrir is about four years old, Jormungandr is two years old, and Hel is a year old. In Asgardian terms.**

* * *

Prologue:

"Allfather-"

"No."

"Please, if you would just reconsider-"

A sigh. "I said no."

"Father!" Voice cracked and desperate, fists clenched. "_Please_, they are my-"

"No. I said no, Loki, and that is final."

Loki looked between both Odin and Frigga, the former looking exhausted while sitting upon the golden throne and the latter having tears in her eyes but still not looking at him. The terrible feeling of being absolutely helpless made him feel so _cold_. Both of them, against him. Both of them, not willing to help him. Suddenly the unexpected hunting trip that Thor had been sent away on made much more sense. _He_ would have come to Loki's defense.

…All this because of the murmurings of vain, cruel gods looking for someone to punish.

The black-haired god sucked in a shuddering breath and was grateful that the main hall was empty save for Odin, Frigga, the ravens Huginn and Muninn, and himself. He _loathed_ feeling this weak and vulnerable. Swallowing his anger with all the willpower he had left, he looked to Frigga. "Mother, _please_, they are only children-"

She finally looked up with an anguished expression, eyes sparkling with unshed tears. Her hand rested on Odin's shoulder while the other twisted her skirt in knots. "I'm so sorry, Loki. We have no choice. The prophecy-"

All that tightly controlled anger snapped from its leash at the word. "_I do not give a damn about that forsaken prophecy!_" Loki snarled, taking a step forward as his face contorted in anger. "They are just _children_, you have no right punishing them for something that has not even happened yet, something that- that may not _ever_ happen!"

Frigga looked shocked at his outburst, but Odin merely looked even more weary. "Be glad that I was able to refrain the other gods from simply killing your children, Loki."

A sneer found its way on Loki's face. "Oh, you mean like they how killed their mother without a second thought?"

As expected, Odin said nothing and Frigga looked away sniffling.

It felt good, oh so _good_, to let the wild burning run through his veins, better than the frigid cold, and he saw no reason to stop.

"You say that by sparing them you took mercy on them, but is casting them out from their home, their family, not the same thing? Throwing Jormungandr in the waters of Midgard? Binding Fenrir with Gleipnir and casting him into the Midgard forests to be hunted by mortals? Casting Hela into the cold halls of Helheim? That is mercy?"

Odin sighed, just barely enough to be heard. "Would you question the decreeing of the Norns, my son? You heard the prophecy. They are set to bring about Ragnarok-"

Loki slammed his fist on his chest hard enough to hurt as his anger burned like fire. "As am I. If you must, then banish me as well, but do not separate them from me. _Please._ I do not care if you cast us into the hall of Helheim to never emerge again, or Midgard to live a mortal life. But- _please. _Do not separate me from my children."

The Allfather's face did not change. "I am sorry, Loki. It is already done."

All the anger and hate drained away to cold nothingness at those last four words.

It was not possible. Odin was lying. Loki had put runes and charms of protection around his room, spun from his own magic. And there was no sorcerer in the Nine Realms better than himself, not even the very mages that had taught him.

And yet…

A bitter taste entered the trickster's mouth.

There was only one being who had the power to cancel out a particularly powerful rune: Odin.

Loki glared up at the throne at his father and let the Allfather see the betrayal and hate in his eyes before he was gone in a flash of green light.

Feet settling on solid ground again, the God of Mischief opened his eyes to the golden doors to his chambers. There was a deadly silence to the hall. The guards were gone, and he could not hear Fenrir's playful growls as he played with his younger brother or Hel's quiet giggling at her brother's antics.

With a moment of hesitation, he placed his hand on the cold doorknob and twisted it open.

And the first thing that Loki's eyes landed on was the empty golden cradle where his daughter had slept only hours earlier.

* * *

_On Midgard, France, late 1600s…_

A woman opened her door of their small cottage to the cool, dark night, a lit candlestick in one hand. She squinted, trying to see the source of the knocking.

Behind her, her husband asks, "_What is it?_"

"_I don't know._"

She stepped out further and pulled her husbands rough wool coat around her tighter. Her bare feet nudged something soft.

Bending down, she gently unwrapped the bundle. It was a small sleeping girl, perhaps a year old, with dark black curls and smooth porcelain skin wrapped in an exquisite black cloak.

The woman, Eloise, smiled as she brushed hair back from the child's face. "_And where did you come from, little one?_"

As she spoke, the girl's eyes opened sleepily to reveal beautiful clear blue irises.

It was only later when she was giving the small child a bath that Eloise saw two things that had been hidden earlier:

The first was the discolored skin covering the girl from the waist down. The beautiful white skin that covered her upper body turned to dark, almost-bruised looking skin at her thighs and continued to her legs and feet. And yet she gave no indication that the bruised skin hurt.

The second was the delicate golden chain hanging from her neck. It had been hidden by the girl's oddly fashioned tunic earlier, but as she sat in the bathwater warmed by the fire, it sparkled in the firelight. Eloise reached out to clasp the small locket and smoothed her thumb over the intricate patterns engraved in it. Like the cloak, it something that her and her farmer husband would never have been able to afford with the little money they owned.

Eloise was about to open the locket, but the large hand of her husband on her shoulder stopped her. He sighed, bending down to press a kiss in her hair. "_Are you sure you want to keep this child?_"

"_Of course._"

"_She will be looked upon in suspicion because of the coloring on her legs. They will call her a demon._"

Eloise pursed her lips, gently scrubbing the cloth across the girl's back as she splashed the water with a small, somber smile. "_And you would leave her in the cold because she is different?_"

He sighed again, realizing that his wife had decided to keep the child and was not going to change her mind. Kneeling down beside the tub like his wife, he asked, "_What's her name?_"

Eloise hid her small, triumphant smile as she reached for the golden locket again. Being careful, she slid her nail between the two folds and opened the locket.

Inside, engraved in a graceful writing was one word:

_Hela._

* * *

_Present Day, Avengers Tower…_

"Fury, we have a problem."

The director of SHIELD gave Steve Rogers a very pointed stare. "Oh_ really_ now? Well, what is it this time? Doom let loose Doombots on Central Park? Amora throwing a bitchfit for Thor? Loki painting a mustache on the Goddamned Statue of Liberty? _What?_"

Tony Stark leaned over to Bruce Banner and not-so-discreetly whispered, "Yeesh, bad day at SHIELD."

It was pretty impressive how lethal Fury could glare with only one eye.

Steve sent his own glare at Tony before clearing his throat. "Well, sir, it _does_ have to do with Loki-"

Tony cut in as he leaned back on the leather couch in the main living room at Avengers Tower. "Thor had an epiphany today while Bruce and I were discussing Norse mythology. In short, Loki has kids."

Fury gave them a blank look. Then, "Why in the _world_ would you bother me to tell me that? We did the research, Stark, we _know_ and we could care less."

"They're here. On Earth. Well, three of them, anyway."

The director paused a moment before leaning in closer to the camera. "Care to explain, Thor?"

The Asgardian that had been sitting unusually quiet the entire time finally looked up. There was a disturbingly somber look on his face. "Centuries ago the Norns foretold of a new prophecy. It spoke of Ragnarok, the end of the Nine Worlds, being brought upon by Loki and three beings of chaos. Out of fear, the other Aesir begged my father to cast out Loki's children, for they were looked upon as monsters on Asgard due to their lineage and appearance. He cast them to Midgard and forbid Loki from seeing them, where they remained ever since."

Fury closed his eye, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You're telling me that when your father took out the trash, he dumped them here? On Earth?"

Thor was up in a flash, eyes hard and cold. "How dare you speak of my niece and nephews in such a manner. They were merely infants when they were wrongly judged-"

"You said it yourself, Thor, they're set to bring about the end of universe," the director snapped, cutting off the Asgardian. Sighing, he sat back in his chair. "So we've got the spawn of a lunatic super villain running around Earth doing God-knows-what?"

As Bruce talked quietly to Thor, trying to get him to calm down, Tony nodded with arms crossed. "Yeah, I'd say that pretty much sums it up."

"Great. Wonderful. Fan-fucking-tastic. Gentlemen, if you'll excuse me, I have to make a few calls. Agents Barton and Romanoff should be pulled in from their current mission and back in New York by tonight. Be prepared to be called out immediately."

With those last parting words, he cut the connection.

In the tense silence that followed, Tony looked from each of his team mates grim faces and grinned. "Oh, come on, guys, cheer up. I think he took that rather well, don't you?"

* * *

**Yep, that's my prologue. I'll get to Hela in the next chapter. There will be explanation of a lot of things that are no doubt confusing.**

**So. Like it? Love it? Hate it? There's a box down there to tell me what you think. :)**


	2. I welcome the queen of the lowest world

**Ganglot is Hel's maidservant and Ganglati is her manservant. So, like a bodyguard. Not much of anything is known of them, so I kinda winged it on their appearances. **

**Helheim has nine different levels, but I couldn't find out exactly what was on each level, so I assumed that each level was a different amount of suffering.**

**Also, I read somewhere that Hel is Goddess of the Blues. So. That explains the blue.**

* * *

Chapter 1: "I welcome the queen of the lowest world" ~ _Hel - Goddess of the Underworld, _Hagalaz' Runedance

For as long as Hel can remember, she's had the same dream.

'Same', as in the fact that she's always in the same place as before. Each night she closes her eyes when she goes to bed and when she opens them she's in a different place than her bedroom.

Instead of the four walls of her current foster home room, she's in her hall, Elivdnir, which is at least the size of an Olympic swimming pool, and sitting on an elegant throne made of smoky marble. The floor is tiled in the deepest black tile she's ever seen, shining like water. The room is rectangular-shaped, with a ceiling consisting of stormy clouds brewing and slate grey walls decorated with bone carvings of tortured souls and bloody battles. Under normal circumstances, that may have been disturbing, but instead she finds that the amount of care and detail that went into them makes them beautiful.

Her throne sits against the back wall, facing the entrance to her hall. The one closest to Hel on her left is golden and engraved with ornate carvings. Bright white light shine from under it and if she listens hard enough she can hear the sounds of laughter and voices. It's Valhalla, where the warriors killed in battle go.

Then there are nine pure white doors with gold doorknobs. Each is a level of Helheim, as Ganglot told her the first time she came here. Depending on the sin each soul has committed in life, they will go through one of the nine doors. Each is a different level of death. The first one, the one on the other side of the Valhalla door, is where the souls who died outside of battle but were innocent went. This went on to the last pure white door, which was where the blackest of souls went.

The one set of gold engraved white double doors across the long room was the entrance to Helheim. It sat directly across the big room from her throne. Hela's never been allowed to leave the confines of Elivdnir, which Ganglot assured her was for her own safety. The only time the entrance to Helheim has ever opened was when a new soul entered to wait for its judgment.

It's the same every night.

When she opens her eyes to the throne room sitting on her throne, she's wearing an odd black dress that almost drapes over her stick thin figure and comes to her knees. She hates it because it shows the damned odd bruised discoloring of her legs. There's a silver crown on her head with sapphires decorating it. It's a small delicate thing, and she loves it. It makes her feel powerful, important.

To her right is her maid servant, Ganglot, in servants' garb, white hair pulled back in a braid and grey eyes blank. On Hel's left is Ganglati, her manservant. He wears dull black and silver warriors armor, his long silver hair pulled back in a leather cord and a sharp sword at his side along with several daggers. Both of them stand at attention, hands behind their backs and blank grey eyes ahead. Neither speaks a word unless spoken to first.

And each night the room is full of souls.

Transparent and listless, they walk forward one at a time to await their judgment. As Hel looks down at them from her throne, she can just _know_ which door they need to go through. So a soul will step forward, she'll look at them once, _know_ which door that awaits them, and then point wordlessly to the door. Then they'll walk to their sentence.

Usually they go without saying a word in protest, but on the occasion that she points an evil soul to the last ninth door, the worst one, the soul will cause a fuss. She remembers on one occasion that a particularly violent soul – _a man, murderer and liar, killer of four women _– lunged for her on her throne. Before she even had time to blink and register it, Ganglati has moved to fast to see and had swung his sword through the soul. Instead of blood and guts splayed across the beautiful black floors, the soul simply vanished into smoke. It didn't go through it's door. It didn't scream. It ceased to exist.

Hela didn't like the thought of simply ceasing to exist.

But Ganglati had quietly resumed his position like it was nothing, and the next soul stepped forward.

That was how it was each night.

The logical part of her knew that this all was simply a dream, an odd dream, probably spurring from her odd Norse name. After all, why would she dream every night that she truly was the goddess of Helheim? Norse gods didn't exist, but she liked to pretend that each night she truly was the mythical Hel. She liked feeling important, powerful, godly. And when it was all over, she'd stop playing pretend and wake up and return to being her normal human self.

At times it was depressing to hold that much power and then lose it when she opened her eyes. But she had the comfort of knowing that the next night she'd be able to go back.

It was a cycle. Living her normal human self during the day, and pretending she was a goddess by night.

Then, one night, the cycle was broken.

* * *

When she opened her eyes this time, the throne room was empty.

Hel notices with a small amount of fascination that the room is really larger looking when its empty of souls. First she turns to her right to look to Ganglot for answers, but her maidservant isn't her usual stoic self. Her grey eyes are wide and nervous while her posture is stiff and her mouth is set in a grim line.

Then Hela turns to Ganglati to see his state. The man servant is clutching his sword in front of him, the tip digging into the floor and hands on the hilt. His face is blank as ever, but his eyes are hard and his jaw is set.

Something is wrong.

A rumble of thunder breaks her thoughts and Hel looks upward at the stormy ceiling. Instead of the usual overcast gray clouds, there's thunderclouds brewing, with flashes of lighting arching through the ceiling and booms of thunder.

_Odd_, she thought. _It's never done that before._

"Ganglot, Ganglati, could you please stand in front of me?"

They obediently do what she says. She sits back in her throne to look at them with a curious gaze. Neither of them look at her. "What's wrong? Something's different."

Both of her servants share a glance.

And Hela gets the feeling that they talk when she's not around. Wait, was that even possible in a dream? To have your make-believe servants gossip when you're not even having the dream?

She couldn't see a big, stout man like Ganglati gossiping with little petite Ganglot. Heck, she hadn't even heard him say a word before.

"Your Highness…"

Ganglot's soft voice broke Hel out of her thoughts and to attention. "Yeah? I mean, yes?" Some goddess she acted like, huh?

Ganglot bit her lip. "…There are things happening in Asgard."

One of Hel's dark eyebrows raised just the tiniest bit. Asgard? Wow, her imagination was more impressive than she thought if it was bringing another fictional realm into this dream.

A deep, gravelly voice said, "The realms are changing, my Queen."

Hel blinked, surprised at the new voice, before she realized just where it came from and her blue eyes zeroed in on Ganglati. "So you _can _talk."

He gave the tiniest of snorts, still staring past her shoulder.

She felt her lips twitch just a little but remained focused on the topic. "The _realms_ are changing?" This just kept getting better and better…

Ganglot lowered her eyes to the ground. "Yes, Your Highness."

That eyebrow began to inch it's way back up her forehead. "Care to explain?"

Again, her servants shared a look. Ganglot looked back to her. "I'm sorry, Your Highness, but we are sworn into silence on the matter."

Hel resisted the urge to roll her eyes because it wasn't something a goddess would do, right? It was more of something that her fourteen year-old self would do. But she did _look_ fourteen in her dreams, too, so maybe it was okay…?

She sighed. "Of course you can't." Her hand came up to tuck hair behind her ear again. "That's all, thank you."

Once again, her servants moved to their spots on either side of her. And the night was spent listening to the rumbling of thunder.

The next night, things were back to normal.

* * *

And it stayed that way for a week. The ceiling still rumbled and flashed with lightning, but the souls returned and Hel handed out sentences each night.

Then she opened her eyes once more to find the room empty save for herself and her servants.

That eyebrow raised on its own accord again. "Ganglot-"

Before she could finished, the double doors directly across from her throne flung themselves open. Ganglati was in front of her in a flash with his sword held high and Ganglot was at her side with small daggers tucked in her hands behind her back. Wait, where did she even hide those?

Beyond the entrance to Helheim was pitch black darkness. Fog rolled in from the darkness.

Then a figure stepped out of the shadows.

Her servants visibly tensed at the sight of the man. He was tall and slim, dressed in what she'd seen in a rock concert once. Or something similar to it. That was a lot of leather and green, either way. He had pale, alabaster skin and slicked back black hair, the same color as Hel's (despite what people at school thought, _no_, she did not dye it, it was that way naturally). What stood out most was his piercing green eyes that sparkled and his bright smile.

Something niggled in the back of her head that told her she should know who this was.

The man stepped further into the room as the double doors swung shut by themselves. The blue flames lighting the room flickered. Ganglati tensed further like he was going to lunge at the man.

And yet the man just kept staring at her and _smiling_.

Hel was starting to take her sanity into questioning if this was what her imagination was cooking up.

The man dropped his smile and stopped a few feet out of Ganglati's reach, kneeling down on one knee with one hand on his heart and saying in an almost British accent, "Greetings, Queen Hel."

Hela raised one eyebrow. She was doing that a lot lately. Instead of saying, 'Uh, hi?' like she wanted to, she said flatly, "Hello?"

He cracked a small smile, eyes dancing with amusement and something she couldn't identify. "May I ask that you call off your servants so we may hold a civil conversation?"

She tapped one nail on the arm of her marble throne. "First, who are you?"

The man stood back up and gave a small bow. "I am Loki, of Asgard." Something in the way he said it sounded sour.

Hel racked her brain, trying to remember all the facts she'd dug up on Norse mythology. Loki? God of Mischief, Lies, and fire. Father of _several_ kids, one of which included-

Oh.

Herself.

She blinked. Well, now what? Keep up her roleplay and give the guy a hug and act like he was her dad? Pretend like she knew nothing of it? Jesus, what if she screwed up in her own dream by picking the wrong choice?

"All I ask from you is a little of your time. I promise I will not harm you."

Hela stared at him hard, trying to figure out if he expected a hug from her. Then something in that sentence registered in her head. "You promise? Aren't you the God of Lies?"

Instead of answering her question, he tilted his head a little with a…hopeful look? "So you remember me?"

She shook her head. "No, I've never met you before. I just know that from Google." Oh, screw it. She just got out of role. Goddesses don't use the Internet.

Loki seemingly didn't even hear that last part as a disappointed but resigned expression crossed his face. Then just as quick as it appeared it was replaced by a blank mask. Again he gestured to the still hostile Ganglati and Ganglot. "I am a man of my word, my lady, and I promise not to hurt you." A small wry smile appeared on his face. "That is the last thing I would even imagine doing, I swear."

Hela still felt wary, but part of her _knew_ that he was telling the truth and that he could trust him. Just like she _knew_ where each soul was destined. With a small sigh, she said, "Ganglati, Ganglot, it's fine. There's no threat."

Her servants glanced at each other but made no indication that they were moving. She wondered if they had some sort of telepathic connection. Figured.

A little more forcefully, she ordered, "Return to your posts, _both_ of you."

Reluctantly, they did.

When they were back at her side, Loki stepped forward with a hand held out. Ganglati tensed again and the God of Lies shot a glare at him. Returning those green eyes to her, he offered her a small smile. "Would you like to go for a walk, my lady?"

Hela stared at him. Walk? _Where_? They were in a rectangular room that only had one door they could go through without dying, and it was forbidden from her. But maybe she could go outside with him?

So with piqued interest, Hel took his cold hand and let him help her down the three marble steps from her throne.

Instead of letting go like she thought he would, he let her to the wall directly behind Ganglot. Loki touched the wall with one glowing green hand and like a mirage a silver door appeared. Hela gave it a wary look. _Another_ freaking door. She looked up to Loki. "So where does this one go?"

There was still a small smile on his lips that looked almost affectionate. "This hall is not the only part of this realm."

She barely had time to think '_What?' _before he opened the door and pulled her through it.

Hela blinked.

They stood in a long hallway that was basically the same as her throne room. Shining black floor, slate grey walls, blue torches hung on the walls to light it up. The only difference was that it was a hallway and that the doors lining the hallway were wooden oak.

Loki let go of her hand almost reluctantly and looked at her expectantly. "You have never been here before?"

She shook her head, at a loss for words. She was going to have a talk with Ganglot about this later. It was _her_ realm and she hadn't even known it _existed_. Leave it to her imagination to keep things from her.

Hel snapped out of her train of thoughts when she felt herself being stared at. Loki continued to look at her expectantly, hands clasped behind his back. She cleared her throat awkwardly. "Um. So about that walk?"

He smiled.

* * *

It was actually a lot more fun than she would have thought at first. Once they had walked for awhile she got more comfortable and began actually talking to Loki. They walked aimlessly through the halls while talking quietly.

He asked her to tell him about herself, and Hel found herself telling him about not just what she did here in dreamland but her real life, too. How she had lived with foster parents her entire life and had only one friend because she usually scared everyone away. How she knew nothing of her real parents. How she'd more than once been shunned and had holy water flicked at her by one Catholic foster parent couple a few years ago.

Something about him made her just _trust _him. She didn't feel threatened or in danger. She felt…at ease. It was odd. She was used to only feeling that way with her best friend Bobby and here in the dream, where she didn't have to worry about losing control on her emotions or being judged. And besides, it was a dream, so what was the worst that could happen if she spilled her thoughts to a figment of her imagination? This was better than a therapist.

Throughout it Loki simply remained silent, asking a few questions here and there.

As they walked, she felt her eyes grow heavy which was a sign that her dream was coming to an end. Instead of returning to the throne room, they stopped in front of a door at the dead end of one hall. Hela stopped talking in favor of eyeing the door. "Why'd we stop here?"

Loki hummed. "Well, I thought you might be tiring as this night is drawing to a close. Is it not?"

Without answering Hel opened the door and stepped inside. It was a large bedroom with a four post bed that had dark grey velvet drapes hanging from it. There was also a small beside table with a silver goblet and wooden desk against the wall. The bed looked awfully tempting.

So she kicked off her almost Greek-like sandals without any ceremony and plopped down on the edge of the bed. Damn, it was soft.

Loki pulled the chair out from the desk, placing it beside the bed and sitting down while Hela ran her hand across the soft cotton sheets of the bed. A bitter taste entered her mouth when she noticed how much the bruise coloring of her legs stood out amongst the stark white sheets. It was so ugly, so _unnatural_.

A soft voice asked, "Is something wrong?"

Hela looked up and felt the world tilt on its axis. Loki was looking at her with an almost _worried_ look. When was the last time someone besides Bobby had looked at her that way? A memory of her foster home agent came up, the woman's face crinkled as she stared at Hel and tried to figure out why she'd been rejected by yet another foster family. And she didn't think the woman was worried about what would happen to Hel but rather how it would affect her job.

Hel suppressed a shudder. It was a weird feeling, knowing someone was worried about you.

Then a thought struck her. Oh, God. Did he really think she was his _daughter_?

While that would be awesome, being a real goddess and daughter of a god and all, she couldn't help but feel more than a little uncomfortable. But why?

It was then that she realized she'd just been staring back at Loki, and she nearly blushed. Nearly.

"Nothing, it's just that… Well, um, you know… My legs." She gestured to the weird coloring.

The God of Lies barely glanced at the discoloring, unlike most people who stared. "And what about it? Does it ail you?"

Hel guessed he was asking if it hurt. Come on, who said 'ail' anymore? "Um, no, not really. It just… It's not natural." _It's ugly._

Loki smiled, but it wasn't mocking. It was more… Something between amused and comforting. It almost made her want to smile back, like they were sharing a private joke. "Natural?"

Hela nodded as her hands smoothed out the hem of her dress. "You know, a natural skin color." She gestured to the pale skin on her arms. "Like this."

He sighed with a faraway look in his eyes. After a moment, Loki asked, "What if I told you that there was a way to hide it?"

"If you mean covering it up, I've already done that. I don't swim or wear shorts and I have an F in gym because I don't dress out in the ridiculous uniforms-"

"I mean with magic."

Hel stopped, torn between laughing or crying. Maybe she could do a little of both. Leave it to her imagination to dangle false hope in front of her face.

Without even waiting for a reply, Loki did some weird gesture with his hand, almost like pulling something from the air, and suddenly he held a small golden bracelet.

She stared. "Woah. Holy shi- Even for a dream, that was pretty impressive."

He chuckled softly. "Thank you. That was a mere party trick compared to the true extent that my magic can reach." A pause. "Do you really believe that this is a dream? Right now?"

Hela nodded absently as she focused on the little bracelet. "Yeah, weird as it is. I have a really screwed up imagination." She hesitated. "Can I… Can I see that?"

If she had been watching, she would have seen the small broken expression that crossed his face. It lasted for only a second before being replaced by a mask as he dropped it into her palm. "Of course. It is for you."

She froze in her examinations of the bracelet. "Um, that's okay, I really couldn't-"

Loki met her gaze evenly. "If this is truly a dream as you say it is, then why refuse a gift that does not even exist?"

The teenager didn't know what to say to that. So she focus back on the bracelet to chase away the spooky feeling that came with the implications of those words.

Despite being made of what she assumed was real gold, it was relatively light weight. The small links sparkled in the blue torchlight of the room. Dangling from the chain were four small golden charms. The first one was a howling wolf, the second a coiled snake, the third a skull, and the last a ball of fire.

That annoying feeling of recognizing something but not knowing from where took over again. She didn't particularly like that there was a charm of fire on there – she had a completely irrational fear of fire – but reminded herself that it wasn't real and that it couldn't hurt her.

Biting her lip, Hela carefully pulled the chain around her wrist and clasped it. No sooner than her fingers had left the clasp, she felt a tingle shoot over her skin from her wrist.

She blinked. _Well, that was weird._

Then she saw her legs and all the air left her lungs.

Instead of the ugly bruising there was smooth, pale skin.

"What. The. Hell."

Bobby would have been making some corny joke about her cursing her own name right now.

Loki hummed, not meeting her eyes. "Do you like it?"

Hel stared at him. "Like it? I _love_ it. _Jesus_." She ran her hands over her skin lightly like she was afraid it was just makeup and that if she brushed too hard it would rub away. "Thank you. God. Thank you."

The God of Mischief smiled a little at her awe. "You are very welcome." For a few moments he let her revel in the gift a little longer before he said in a soft voice, "I believe our time here together has come to an end, my lady."

Hela looked up at that. The flash of disappointment she felt in herself surprised her. She swallowed thickly, still fingering the bracelet. "Well… Will I see you again?" What a stupid question, this was a dream…

He smiled a little wider, green eyes sparkling. "Yes, I plan on making it happen."

And for that reason she couldn't explain, she smiled back.

* * *

As Hel felt herself sinking back into consciousness in the plush bed in her dream, she could've sworn she felt something cold just barely brush her temple. Then she opened her eyes to her bedroom in her current foster home.

Blinking away the sleep, she sat up and touched the spot on her temple that tingled. Sitting still for a moment, her mind sorted through the tangled mess of memories from her dreams. _Well, that was out of the ordinary. _

Suddenly something banged on her door and Hel jumped. "The bus gets here in fifteen minutes, Helen. Wake up and get ready for school."

The teenager scowled at her bedroom door even though she knew her foster mother couldn't see it. That _wasn't _her _name-_ Without warning some dark emotion grasped her heart and squeezed. Hela's fingers twisted in the sheets of the bed and she shut her eyes, taking deep breaths.

After a moment the anger passed and her fists unclenched from the bed sheets as cool emptiness flooded through her.

Hel sighed. She really should take her medication. But she knew she wasn't bipolar, that was just how her emotions worked, only no one besides Bobby listened to her and they all made her think something was wrong with her when there _wasn't _anything wrong. They all tried to change her, change her name, her appearance, her _self_-

_Stop._

Hela bit her lip hard to stop the urge to smash something.

Setting her thoughts on autopilot to stop another episode, she swung her legs out of the bed and set her feet on the floor to ground herself. Same as every morning, her eyes traveled down to her discolored feet-

And stopped.

Because her skin was a normal, pale color.

Hel's blue eyes zeroed in on the very real bracelet on her wrist.

* * *

Later that day after school was out, Hel practically dragged Bobby in her foster parent's house. Without even giving him a warning, she opened her bedroom door and shoved him inside and slammed the door shut behind her.

And the whole time he talked a mile blue streak. "You're scaring me here, Hel, really you haven't said anything _all fucking day_, and while I know chatting isn't really your thing, you at least say something, tell me to shut up, call me an idiot or a jerk, but-"

"Bobby," she said as she tossed her backpack in the corner, "shut up."

He ran a shaking hand through his dark blonde hair, face twitching and fingers tapping an odd rhythm on his leg as he plopped down on her unmade bed. "Sorry, no can do, you know how I am when I'm nervous, and you're _really _making me nervous-"

Hel threw an old towel she'd used three days ago at him and it landed on his head. "Don't look, I'm changing. If you look, I'll castrate you." But even without the threat she knew he wouldn't.

"Wow, would you believe me if I said I didn't know what that means? But it sounds unpleasant, so I'll just sit here. Why couldn't you do this, like, in the bathroom, again? Unless you're putting on some kind of sexy outfit to give me a lap dance, then I am totally okay-"

Hel smirked just the tiniest bit as she started pulling off her clothes. "I'm not, but I can staple that towel to your forehead."

"You're a scary chick, you know that?"

"Yeah."

"Good, just thought I'd remind you." A pause, then, "Jesus, Hel, do you wash anything? This towel smells like mildew." Another pause. "You gave it to me for that exact reason, didn't you?"

"Yes."

"I hate you."

"You love me."

"True. They say addicts love what hurts them. I'm probably a masochist in that respect."

"Probably."

"You done yet? I think there's mildew growing in my lungs by now."

Hela tightened the strap around her neck. "Yeah, I'm done now."

Bobby pulled the towel off his head, sucking in a dramatic breath. "Sweet, wonderful oxyge-" He stopped, staring at her. "What."

She gave him a bright smile, wider than her usual ones, with her hands on her hips.

Her best friend slapped a hand over his eyes. "Christ, I was kidding about the lap dance, Hel. What are you smoking?"

Hela rolled her eyes and pulled the hand off his eyes. "It's just a bikini that my foster mom bought me last year, Bobby. Get over it. Besides, you're missing the point." Again, she smiled and gestured to her legs.

It took it a moment to register, but she saw it when his dark green eyes widened. "Holy crap. Holy crap. What the hell. What the fuck happened to-"

Hel sat beside him, running her hands over the smooth pale skin of her legs. "Call it a…"

"Miracle?"

She looked up, a small smile playing on her lips. "Call it a blessing. From a god."

* * *

**Yep. So. You're introduced to Hel. **

**And any questions you have will be answered in the near future. Can't wait? Ask me I guess and I'll see if I can clear things up without giving anything away…**

**NEXT CHAPTER****:** **Fast forward to a year later when Loki tries to take over the Earth, Hel recognizes him on TV, and things happen. Like SHIELD. And the Avengers. And other things. :)**


	3. So she ran away in her sleep

**Okay, this chapter we go into the events of the movie. Yay! Forgive me if I get something wrong, for I am going by memory alone. But I won't have to for long! Movie comes out on DVD on September 25, kiddies. :) So excited. **

**Also, school has begun. *cue funeral march* Yes. You know what that means. Slower updates. :( **

**Plus, I'm assuming the events in Avengers happened in late May. So this is based around that time frame. Hel is fifteen years old here.**

**ALSO! Summary change because the plot changed. :)**

* * *

Chapter 2: "When she was just a girl, she expected the world, but it flew away from her reach, so she ran away in her sleep" ~ _Paradise_ by Coldplay

After Hel first meets Loki, after she gets the bracelet, after _everything_ changes, things happen.

It started a few weeks after the Loki incident when she went swimming in her foster parents' swimming pool with Bobby and she found the deep, painful looking bruises he'd been hiding under his t-shirt.

"Dumbass," she snapped in clipped tones as she forced him to lie on the laid-back pool chair.

He looked mildly uncomfortable, not from her fingering the bruises on his ribs (no, they'd gotten past that awkward opposite-sex-contact stage ages ago) but from just the fact that he was embarrassed. Bobby would be the last to admit his dad had ever hit him in a drunken rage. And all because it _embarrassed _him. No one wanted to admit they had issues, but if it's hurting you, why the hell should you put up with it?

That's how Hela looked at it, at least.

She knew she was weird; she embraced it. If it kept her out of the moronic drama that was high school, she was fine with it. Maybe she got lonely sometimes when she watched the other girls her age gushing over guys or throwing some big sleepover, but she had Bobby, and that was all she needed.

Besides, she watched what happened when other teens socialized. She'd eavesdropped on just enough conversations to know that when you turned your back to somebody, you were open to harsh, teenage judgment. She'd heard it about herself.

But back to Bobby's issues, because God knows he had just as many as she did but hid them _so_ much better.

Her blonde-headed friend tried to sit up with a wince. "Hel, look, it's not that bad, honestly-"

Hel's hand snapped up to his throat and she pushed him back down with a glare to show that, yes, she could force him and would.

Bobby sighed and covered his eyes against the sun with a hand. "Screw you, control freak."

She smiled the tiniest smile before going back to examining the bruise. It was a deep purple color, almost the color of her legs, which looked normal at the moment since she was wearing the bracelet along with a deep purple bikini. Hel frowned and silently wished she could do more than just make sure his ribs weren't cracked. She hated seeing Bobby hurt more than anything when he of all people didn't deserve it.

In the back of her head a small voice whispered about God working in mysterious ways, punishing the good people and celebrating the bad.

"So what happened this time?"

Bobby peeked one blue eye out from between his fingers. "Would you believed me if I said I fell down the stairs at school, doc?"

She glared, feeling the dark emotions that lurked in her stir. "Don't fucking _lie to my face_, you asshole. I _know _what happened."

His hand dropped and he rolled his eyes. "Of course you do. Because you know _everything_."

Hela felt a flash of cold pass over her. Because, yeah, it hurt. She was just trying to help him. He didn't need to get so defensive.

But then, didn't she, those few times he mentioned her legs?

_Hypocrite_, she chided herself.

Out loud, "I'm just trying to help."

"Maybe I don't want your help."

Again the cold, but instead of getting up and snapping out a retort like she wanted, she didn't. Because she had said those same words before, and Bobby had never left her.

So instead she just stared at him, waiting.

After a few moments, he sighed heavily again. "An empty wine bottle."

And as much as Hel tried to stop the image of Bobby having a wine bottle smashed against his ribs, shattering into a million pieces and piercing his skin and drawing blood, so much blood-

She couldn't.

The dark thing inside her flared bright in anger, burning like a thousand suns. And for a few sweet moments, Hel gave into it, letting the rush sweep her away. She saw the hundreds of ways Bobby's father could die, each painful and slow, and then she'd send him to the lowest level of Helheim, where murderers and rapists and awful people like Bobby's father go, where he'd suffer the eternal tortures.

Hela reveled in the sweetness of her anger and imagined revenge as something under her skin burned with true power.

Somewhere off to her right, she heard the sound of multiple things shattering and Bobby's surprised cursing.

Then Hel felt a cool hand on her arm, and suddenly she felt empty, cold nothingness.

She blinked. The fire, the hate, the anger- It was all gone. And she just felt cold now.

"Are you alright?"

Bobby's voice brought her back down to earth. "What? Um, yeah, yeah, I am."

He watched her with concerned and suspicious blue eyes, sitting up now. "You know, you're eyes were glowing."

Hel couldn't help the snort that slipped out. "_Glowing?_"

Her best friend frowned at her, genuinely concerned. "Yeah, smartass, glowing."

"You're imagining things."

"Am I? Look." Bobby pointed to something behind her and she turned.

The lemonade glasses and pitcher that had been on the table were shattered, the spilled lemonade dripping off the edge of the patio table and onto the concrete.

Hel frowned, remembering the burning she'd felt under her skin. "What happened to it?"

"You tell me." He was staring at her with that look that said, 'There's something different about you and you know it'.

Hela didn't like that look. It made her feel wrong. Misplaced. Inhuman.

Then she was pushing up and away from the pool chair and Bobby, towards the house, towards her room, where she could think things out in silence without the scrutinizing looks of everyone else. Even Bobby.

* * *

Things like shattering glasses happen after that. A lot.

And of course that starts up the rumor mill at school that she's a witch (been there, done that) or that she's possessed (how many times has she heard that?) or that she's a mutant getting ready to go crazy axe murderer on the school (really, mutant turned axe murderer? How the heck would she even get an axe into school? This wasn't American Horror Story).

What was new was the little trinkets that started showing up in her locker and on it. Pentagrams draw on her locker. Bible verses stuffed in it. Homemade charms meant to ward off evil hanging from it. People making a cross with their fingers towards her whenever she walked by.

It just ticked her off even more.

But every now and then she'd let her anger loose in class just so she could see the reactions of her classmates and laugh at their faces. Bobby rained on her parade with a look that said, '_Stop, that's enough_', but she still enjoyed it.

She thinks she may be mutant, but until she knows for sure she'll keep her freak opinion of herself.

And that's how things go for pretty much a year.

* * *

Until, once again, everything changes in May.

She's having a little R&R after school in her room with her Lord of the Rings books when her phone rings suddenly.

"Hello?"

"What are you doing?" Bobby asks in breathless voice.

"Reading Lord of the Rings, so screw off. I just got to the good part." He knew she liked her books.

"Turn on the TV to CNN."

"Bobby-"

"_Do it._"

Hela hesitated, but set her book down and flicked on the TV. The fuzzy image cleared a bit after a moment to show the familiar CNN news announcer. Turning up the volume a bit, she listened to the words.

"…_Stuttgart, Germany, where a public attack occurred late last night. The attacker, who referred to himself as the Loki found in Norse mythology, assaulted the gala's host. He was taken into custody not by local officials but rather Iron Man and what looked to be Captain America, both working under a international organization called SHIELD…"_

The newscaster's words faded into the background as the TV turned to a shaky cell phone footage. Hel's fingers twisted in her sheets as she recognized the green and leather clad figure.

Bobby's voice spoke in her ear again, making her jump. "Jesus, Hel, please tell me that this is just a coincidence. That- That's not the guy you talked about, is it? Please, please, tell me it isn't- _And don't you dare hang up_, or so help me, I will- I'll- I'll do something drastic." A pause. "It's… It's not him, is it?"

Hela squeezed her eyes shut against the images from the TV, of the man she'd connected with so well forcing dozens of people to kneel. She let out a shaky breath. "Yes, Bobby, it is him."

Her best friend just breathed in the phone, shaky breath by shaky breath. Then, "_Crap._"

Suddenly Hel's thoughts sped up again and her mouth unglued itself. "But- But that can't be him. He was, you know, nice, and _sane_, not some stark-raving lunatic forcing people to kneel." Involuntarily, her eyes flicked to the screen again. "And he looked…healthier. Not sick."

"So what the hell is he doing by attacking some gala in Germany and killing people? Hel, a sane and nice person wouldn't _do that_. And on top of it all, what the hell was he doing in your dreams?"

The back of her head hit the wall beside her bed. She was not having this conversation right now. Not ever. Because it was impossible.

Like a switch being flipped, everything spinning in Hel's head just stopped and all was quiet.

Completely disregarding her conversation with Bobby, she flopped on her bed sideways to stare at the wall and tap her phone against her lips. Facts and myths were running through her head and connections were being made steadily.

Hela wasn't stupid. She may not have had the best grades ever, but that was more because she didn't care than because she was stupid. No, she wasn't stupid.

But the more she looked at this little idea, this little, terrible, wonderful idea, and the more connections she made that supported it, the more this idea seemed less impossible. If anything, it was beginning to clear a lot of things up and yet cloud things further.

Insane, but possible.

Right?

Bringing the phone back up to her ear, she murmured, "Bobby, I'll call you back later. I have some research to do."

With a click she ended the call, cutting off any protest that her best friend made, and reached for her laptop.

* * *

Dozens, maybe even hundreds, of mythology sites, one very long Word Document, and several hours later, Hela finally let her eyes shut and sleep swallow.

As always, she appeared in Elivdnir with hundreds of souls waiting for judgment. After a moment of gathering herself, Hel dove into her duty of sorting the souls. The familiar pattern took her mind off things and she took comfort in the fact that despite how everything in her waking life was changing, this was the same routine.

Ganglot and Ganglati continued to watch as comforting presences, but from the corner of her eye the teenager could see both of them fidgeting.

Halfway through the night, a cool touch to her shoulder caught her attention. Startled (they _never_ disturbed her), Hela turned to see Ganglot watching her with wide anxious grey eyes. "My lady," she said in a grave whisper, "Midgard is in danger."

Ganglati hissed angrily, eyes flashing. "Ganglot!"

The maidservant hissed back in a different language just as vehemently. An argument broke out between her servants and Hel couldn't do more than stare on in wonder. This was the most emotion she'd ever seen out of either of them, and whatever they were arguing about seemed pretty serious-

Ganglot's words registered.

And out loud she said, "_Shit_."

"Indeed," said a very even, blank voice that most definitely wasn't hers or her servants.

Hel and her servants were the only ones to react, as the souls filling the room usually just stared off listlessly until it was their time. From the crowd of wispy, translucent souls stepped a very solid form. It was a man with thinning brown hair, wearing a blank expression and a suit like from Men in Black. She only blinked once at the bloody stab wound in his chest and the blood staining his suit. Souls sometimes came in bearing the marks of a violent death. She'd gotten used to it.

The soul stepped out of the crowd of other souls, only stopping a few feet from the stairs to her throne. Ganglati shifted at his post. "She's right. Earth is in danger. I want to help stop it."

Hela just _stared _at him. Souls _never_ talked.

But she could just tell just by looking at him that he wasn't an ordinary soul. There was this haze clouding her mind when she looked at him. Something she'd never experienced. She usually could tell instantly where each soul went, but…this was different. Nothing came to her when she looked at him except a wall blocking her. He didn't belong.

She squeezed her eyes shut, refusing to let her emotions get the best of her. This was all so _frustrating_ and _confusing_ and it was driving her insane. Loosing control now would be anything but helpful.

Before she could get swept away by the emotional current, Hel stood up and made her way down the steps to stand in front of the soul. He matched her curious gaze with a blank, serious expression.

Sighing, Hela said tiredly, "I can't tell where you're going."

He raised an eyebrow at that. "Well, I can tell you one thing: I'm not staying here."

It was Hel's turn to raise an eyebrow. An unrest soul with regrets?

She sighed again and asked, "Who are you?"

The man stuck a hand out. "Agent Coulson, part of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division."

The teen hesitated before shaking his quite solid hand. "Wordy."

"SHIELD for short."

"Ah." She paused a moment before saying, "I'm Hel."

Agent Coulson raised an eyebrow again. "Hell?"

"H-E-L, like the Hel in Norse mythology. You know, Goddess of Death and all that fun stuff."

He nodded. "So you exist also. That would explain why I'm here, then."

Hel didn't even bother explaining that this was probably all a dream and that he only existed in her imagination. So instead she gestured to his stab wound. "Sorry about that."

Coulson barely glanced at it. "It was unfortunate."

She stared at him. "You just called death unfortunate."

"Yes." He stared back evenly. "The amount of paperwork that I'll have to fill out for this type of thing will be monumental."

Hela nodded, feeling unbelievably weirded out. He was dead and worrying about paperwork? And then it hit her.

"You make it sound like you're going to live again."

He nodded impassively, looking over her shoulder at the unrest less Ganglot and Ganglati. "I have to. If I don't who's going to do the paperwork? Fury won't and Hill doesn't have the time."

_Names with no faces_, she thought. "You're so sure of yourself, but it's impossible to live again."

The agent's calm, sure eyes zeroed in on her again and for all the power she felt in her dreams, his gaze made her feel small. "You're the Goddess of Death, aren't you? You tell me."

"It's never been done before."

"I've done a lot of things that have never been done before."

Hel frowned. "I can't tell where you're going."

Coulson clasped his hands in front of him like it was a done deal and he was merely waiting for the word to go. "Then send me back."

She thought about it. This was a dream, so what was the harm? "Will I see you again?" What a ridiculous question…

He stood a little straighter, tugging on his jacket to smooth it out. "I hope so. Compared to most Norse Gods I've met, you seem fairly normal."

"What."

"Good day, Miss Hel." And with that Agent Coulson turned and walked through the parting souls, right out the entrance to Helheim.

The teen just stood there, staring. After a few moments, she threw her hands up. "That's it, this day has officially been named 'Normal Says 'Screw It' And Goes To Hell'." She turned and pointed at Ganglot. "Write that down."

With a small, rare smile, Hel's maidservant pulled a small tablet out of the pocket in her dress.

* * *

Hel's woken up the tunes of Coldplay playing from her phone. With a groan she rubs her eyes and looks at the time. 2:19 PM. Jesus, how long had she slept? Nearly twelve hours. She was sleeping away her Saturday.

"Hello?" She answers as she shoves her laptop to the side and buries her head in her pillow.

"Damnit, Hel, answer your Goddamn phone," Bobby snaps immediately. "I've been calling you the past four hours."

Irritation flares up in her. "I was asleep, jerk. You woke me up."

"You're sleeping during an alien invasion?"

Hela rolls her eyes for a moment before saying, "Bobby, there are no aliens-"

"Turn your TV on."

She did.

And instantly regretted it.

* * *

She was hyperventilating.

The line that existed between her dreams and reality was blurring. Loki existed. SHIELD existed. Her dreams were no longer dreams.

Hel was going insane. That had to be it.

And yet she was still capable of rational thought.

Shutting down all other thoughts, Hela focused on what she'd discovered in the past four hours. A mental recount, almost.

Loki had tried to take over Manhattan with an alien army (she'd apologize to Bobby later) by opening a portal. (Every time she looked at her gold bracelet from him it hurt to think that the same person that had given it to her was doing this).

A group called the Avengers had showed up, and she only recognized Tony Stark as Iron Man (who didn't know him?), Captain America from Bobby dumping history facts on her, and the Hulk that had destroyed Harlem a few years earlier. They had fought the aliens, destroyed the portal, then a nuclear bomb had showed up out of no where which Iron Man directed through the portal as it closed.

They apprehended Loki and turned him into a secret organization named SHIELD that just came to public light. Cleanup began and the media backlash began. People were taking different sides on the matter of the Avengers.

She wasn't sure what had happened to Loki, but she knew one thing:

Her answers lay in New York.

So with the feeling of the weight of the world on her shoulders, Hel began making plans.

* * *

_2 months later…_

Hela hefted her duffel bag on one shoulder and her backpack on the other. "Get ready, Bobby. The bus will be here any minute."

Her best friend fiddled nervously with the straps on his own backpack. "Are you sure this will work?"

"Yes."

"One-hundred percent?"

"Yes."

"What if we don't have enough money?"

"We will."

"But how do you-"

"Bobby," she cut in flatly, still staring at the house on the opposite side of the street, "this summer I mowed 45 lawns and played 19 poker games with those college guys down the street. And you know how good I am at poker. You mowed 38 lawns, won $419 on several lottery scratch-offs, and won 6 poker games also with the college guys. I'm sure we have enough money to get to New York and rent a cheap hotel for two weeks while I look."

He was silent for a moment as he chewed on his lip, blue eyes clouded with worry. "Well, what if they find out we really didn't go camping?"

"Did you tell them that you went camping with me and my foster parents and that there wouldn't be any reception?"

"Yeah?"

"Okay. I told my foster parents I went camping with you and your parents and that there wasn't reception." She shuffled closer to him and elbowed him with a small smile. "Hey, don't worry. Nothing's gonna go wrong. And we'll just look around for a little while to try and get some answers."

Bobby sent a strained smile back at her, but it was dimmer than his usual grin. The smile faded and the worried look returned full on.

"…Hel, this could be dangerous."

If it had been anyone but Bobby, she would've rolled her eyes.

"This Loki guy, he's a bad guy. He _killed _people, H. Still is-"

"First of all," Hela broke in curtly, "you didn't see him the way I did. And second, he hasn't killed anyone since the Manhattan attack. Ever since he somehow returned a month and a half ago, all he's done is mainly cause trouble for the Avengers. Like pranks. And he's not the only bad guy to show up. There's that Doom guy, Hydra – whatever that is – and that Amora chick who says she's from Asgard, too."

"Ass-gard?"

Hel really did role her eyes this time. "Idiot. As-gard."

"_As_-gard?"

"Yes. Back to my point, I'm only going because I'm looking for answers. And I feel that those answer are in New York."

Bobby sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I hope you're right, Hel. I hope you're right."

Hela smirked. "Aren't I always?"

The look he sent her wasn't amused.

* * *

"Okay, set it down gently now- _Gently!_ Jesus, Thor, set it down gently! That was very expensive to make, and, well, I can't remember _how _I made it since I was drunk when I did, but anyways- Set it down gently. Yes, like that. Thanks, big guy."

Tony patted Thor's arm as he stepped forward to calibrate his invention to the right measurements. Which, hopefully, worked.

"It was my pleasure, Man of Iron," Thor replied, in an almost _subdued_ tone.

The billionaire looked up immediately, because the god almost never talked in any other tone than a booming one. The thunderer was staring off into the distance, eyes on the horizon of Manhattan. They had a spectacular view of the city from the rooftop of Stark Tower.

But Thor didn't quite look like he was taking in the sights the way he usually did.

Momentarily forgetting his invention, Tony sat back from his crouched position to stare up at the god. "What's wrong, Point Break? You don't look as happy to be up here as you usually do."

"I am worried about many things, friend Tony."

The genius billionaire playboy philanthropist resisted the urge to tell him that for the last time, it was _Tony_, because honestly, how hard were two syllables to pronounce by themselves? Instead he patted the spot to next to him. "Well, I'm all ears at the moment. Might as well let off some steam."

Thor did sit down, but he kept his closed off expression.

Tony sighed a little but it was lost in the mild breeze atop the tower. He turned part of his brain power to the machine and the codes that needed to be input as he brought up a holographic screen. Fingers flying across the interactive hologram, he said, "It's this deal with your brother and his kids, isn't it?"

"Yes."

Well, he wasn't putting up any resistance, was he? "What about it?"

The thunderer huffed a small, humorless laugh. "You would want to hear my misgivings of a traitor who killed so many of your kind?"

The genius shrugged, eyes watching the progress as Jarvis fully integrated with the system so he'd be able to receive alerts on any changes the machine caught immediately. "Look, Thor, you're my teammate, right? You watch out for my back during the fight just like you do for all the other Avengers, and treat me like a friend when we're not fighting the baddies. You don't look down on us and tell us to kneel. The least I could do is offer you an ear. And yeah, Loki killed a lot of humans. And threw me out a window. He's got blood on his hands. So does every person on this team. And a lot of it. Believe me, I know. So if you wanna talk about your brother, I'm probably the best person for it. And if that isn't sad I don't know what is."

Thor digested that for a few moments. Tony waited patiently as he began setting the right adjustments for his machine.

"I am worried about the reactions of not only my father and mother, but my niece and nephews as well."

That made the playboy pause. "I get your parents being pissed that you went against their judgment to banish your niece and nephews, but why are you worried about the kids reactions?"

The god had taken Mjolnir from its harness on his belt and was running his fingers along the edges of the hammer; it seemed to be a nervous habit that rarely made itself known. "Fenrir, the eldest, was too old to not remember the Aesir and Asgard. My father simply banished him to the forests of Midgard, where he has remained since. I fear he will be less than happy with the Aesir."

"And he's a wolf?"

Thor paused as he tried to figure out how to explain it correctly. "Yes, but he can take on a human form if he wishes to. I believe the way Loki explained it to me so many centuries ago was that Fenrir is naturally a wolf, so it would require effort to maintain a human appearance for long periods of time. But he will always revert to his wolf self eventually."

Tony nodded. "Kinda like a werewolf, but the concepts are reversed."

They'd had a crash course on the latest fads for the sake of Thor and Steve, and Twilight was one of the first things to be explained. So the god understood the reference and smiled a little. "Yes, very much like a werewolf."

The scientist thought back to the research he'd done on Norse mythology. "And the middle child? Jormungandr? He's a snake, right?"

"Aye," Thor nodded. "Jormungandr was also too old to not remember anything of Asgard."

"Does he have a human form?"

"No, for his domain is the waters of Midgard. Before he was banished, he was allowed to move freely, but in order for his safety and the safety of Midgardians, my father restrained him to the waters of Midgard. I believe he could leave the water briefly, but not for long."

With a beep his invention finished integrating the adjustments and Tony happily shut down the interactive hologram. If all went well and worked, then he'd be able to detect Loki's mischief judged by the special energy signature that his magic gave off when he was up to mischief. The test pilot machine that he'd just finished would only span out to about fifty miles, but it seemed that most of the trickster's tricks happened fairly close to Avenger tower.

That done, he leaned back on his hands to look at Thor. "So which body of water is he restrained to? You told Fury that part, didn't you?"

The thunderer shook his head. "Jormungandr is not restrained to a single expanse of water. He travels through all waters. That is why he would be impossible to catch in a chase."

The scientist inside of Tony knew that was impossible, and was trying to calculate a way that someone could travel between the Pacific Ocean and one of the Great Lakes. Except he couldn't. Because it was impossible.

But, hey. Magic. Apparently it could work wonders.

So Tony shut down that train of thought. "You mean I could go down to the pond in Central Park and see Jormungandr swimming around in there?"

There was that big, bright smile he was used to seeing Thor wear. "Only if he wished it."

Of course. That figured. Well, that posed a problem in making sure that he wasn't causing trouble somewhere on Earth. Tony didn't like snakes anyway.

"And what about the youngest kid? Hel?"

Thor's smile faded. "My niece does not remember anything of her Asgardian heritage."

"Well, if she's here on Earth, surely she knows something's up. You said that they were banished in the 1600's. If she's immortal and been alive since then, she must know something's wrong."

The god's fingers continued to trace patterns and edges on Mjolnir as he looked off into the horizon of Manhattan. "By human terms, she was only a year old when she was banished. Hela was too young to remember her life on Asgard, so my father took a small mercy on her. She was sent to live as a mortal on Earth, her magic muted. By day, she lived as a human, and by night she went to her hall in Helheim. Each night, she judges the sins of each soul that has died and sends them to one of the nine levels of Helheim or Valhalla."

Tony digested that for a moment. Then, "So she's dead? Not immortal?"

Thor smiled again, but it was bitter. "No, she is very much alive. Throughout the centuries we have watched over her."

"Then- How?"

"Each time she died, she was reincarnated."

The genius billionaire playboy philanthropist had a '_WTF?'_ moment that lasted _way_ too long as he thought how messed up that was. He held up his hands, looking Thor in the eye. "So- Let me get this straight. Out there somewhere is a goddess living as a human, and we're about to disrupt her life by telling her that she's really an alien from another planet."

The thunderer nodded, his blonde hair blowing slightly in the wind. "Yes. She is currently living in her 'teenage years', as you humans put, with a host family."

Tony threw his hands up. "She's a teenager? Even greater. This is going to go so fantastically _well_."

* * *

Hel was seriously reconsidering her choice to go to New York with only Bobby as a companion.

Her initial plan had been to get in contact with SHIELD, but then she realized that she had no way of doing that other than becoming a super villain of her own making, which she definitely wasn't doing anytime soon. They didn't exactly have SHIELD on speed dial either.

Plus, they hadn't been able to find a hotel cheap enough that it wouldn't drain their money. They'd been stuck with lugging their bags around all Manhattan while they looked.

So, yeah. Hel was starting to realize that her plan sucked.

Which Bobby kept reminding her every five minutes.

"God, I can't believe I actually followed you to _New York_. I'm such an idiot. No, wait- I think the blame falls on you for this."

She grit her teeth as she stared out the window of the small café they'd found. It was a pretty typical café environment, with free wi-fi that she was currently waiting on to connect to her laptop. "I know, Bobby, and I'm sorry."

Whatever he was going to say next was cut off as a waitress came up to take their order. Hela simply asked for a water (they needed to watch their money if they had to spend more than they thought on a hotel) before opening the web on her laptop. She tuned out Bobby's complaining as she used the search engine to look up facts on SHIELD.

And truthfully, there wasn't much. It was basically a covert operation organization that kept its secrets under lock and key. The Avengers was started by SHIELD, but the founder wasn't known. Most of the sites she found were conspiracy theories that she instantly dismissed. And all the sites that even _looked_ promising from the web address were all shut down, with a 'This website is no longer in use' message. Whoever SHIELD was, they cleaned up good.

With a sigh, Hel shut down her computer and took a sip of her water. Bobby's monologue resumed in her ears.

"…We're tired, in an unfamiliar city – hell, unfamiliar _state_ – and fucking homeless. What do you think we're gonna do? Sleep in an alley? Walk around until we find a hotel? Ask some stranger to take us in? Jesus, Hel, we're in a bad situation and it's-"

Hel couldn't help it. She was tired, hungry, lost, and barely an inch away from crying. She never cried. Well, there was that one time when they watched _Gone With The Wind_- But as far as she was concerned, that night never happened. Still, she came looking for answers, and all she'd gotten was dead ends and disappointment. She was used to being disappointed but she felt so close this time. Close enough to taste success.

And now that hope was fading fast.

Bobby's words was the straw the broke the camel's back. Or, most likely, her back.

Hel's fist slammed down on the table top hard enough to rattle the glasses and the little container with sugar, salt and pepper. Bobby instantly went silent and several people looked up. She kept her words low and cold as ice.

"Yes, Bobby, I know its _all my fucking fault_, I know that we're in a bad situation, I know we're in a completely different state. But if you'd shut up for two damn seconds and used your brain to help me think, maybe, just maybe, we could find a way out of this Goddamn mess. So shut your mouth or I will."

She was all wrath and cold fury during her tirade- but it all drained away when she saw the flinch cross Bobby's face. The terrible, soul-eating guilt hit her hard enough to knock the breath out of her. What the heck did she just say? And to her best friend of all people? The only one that she could fully trust not to change in this world of changing?

God, what had she done?

Her brain kicked up again and her mouth started moving. "Bobby, God, I'm sorry- I- I shouldn't have said-"

His familiar blue eyes that she'd memorized looked up, full of understanding as a small smile crossed his face. "Shut up, Hel."

And because she was still so shell shocked by what she'd said so ruthlessly (she was brutal, but not _that _brutal usually), she did.

Hela started rolling the charms on her gift bracelet from Loki between her index finger and thumb, a habit she'd picked up soon after he'd given it to her. Starting with the wolf, feeling the familiar figure as a comfort, all the way through the four charms to the last, the ball of fire.

Bobby was silent for a few moments as he stared out the window. After several tense minutes, he finally looked back to her with tired blue eyes. "Look… I know we're both tired. And I know how much this meant to you. So I'm sorry I complained so much. I just have my doubts about this and I've been worried about how this could mess with you. You've been obsessed the past few months, Hel… And to be frank, it's scary." He reached across the table and took her cold hand in his warm one. "I'm just… I don't want you to get hurt, okay? And before you start apologizing again, I accept your previous apologies."

Hel blinked. And blinked again.

Then the guilt returned full force.

God, she didn't deserve the forgiveness, the concern in his eyes, the comforting hand in her own- She didn't deserve _any _of it. Didn't he see that? Everyone else did, even she did, so why was he so worried about her, like she didn't deserve the angry words he should be telling her now?

The answer was all too plain, and it hurt to think about it.

Because Bobby loved her when he shouldn't.

_Now I really will cry_, she thought as she pressed her other hand to her face. This was why they were best friends. This was why she'd stuck with him since second grade. This was why she wasn't completely insane.

Because Bobby understood.

That was worth any amount of money in her books.

Hel sighed, small and painful, and took her hand away from her face. She looked to Bobby and saw the small smile on his face. And whispered, "I'm so sorry, Bobby. I don't deserve you."

He snorted, shaking his head still with a smile. "You don't get it, do you?"

"Get…what?"

Her best friend looked away, his smile disappearing for a brief moment. Then he looked back up and that same goofy grin that'd irritated her since second grade returned. "Nevermind." His eyes trailed behind her. "I think I may have just figured out another solution, though."

Bobby pointed behind her, and Hel turned in her seat to look.

The first thing her eyes landed on, because it was admittedly hard to miss, was the huge tower that had a giant 'A' on the front of it.

* * *

"I'm sorry, Miss, but unless you have an appointment you can't see Mr. Stark."

The secretary didn't sound sorry at all.

Hela sighed, scowling at the security cameras that had their tiny little lenses focused on them. She used her best polite and respectful voice. "Ma'am, it's very important that I speak to him. A matter of life and death."

The secretary smiled, looking like a combination of amused and irritated. "Miss, getting a few minutes of Mr. Stark's very precious time just to get an autograph is not a 'matter of life and death'."

Okay, so Hel had lied about the life and death part, but that just pissed her off.

"Well, can I talk to one of the other Avengers, then?"

The woman just shook her head, leaning forward with her hands clasped. "Sweetheart, listen. The Avengers are very busy people, and they don't have time for personal meetings. If you wish to get a chance to meet them, I suggest you wait until the next public appearance they have. They simply don't have time for little fangirls such as yourself."

Behind Hel, Bobby whispered, "Wrong thing to say, woman."

Wrong, indeed.

The cold fury that had risen up earlier came back stronger than ever.

The secretary's glass of water cracked and shattered. Somewhere in the back ground a window shattered. Bobby gasped, gripping Hel's arm.

Her grip on the counter tightened until her knuckles were white.

It was like watching from a distance, yet in the front row seat. She saw the secretary's eyes widen, heard her scream, felt Bobby's hand gripping her arm tight enough to bruise. Hel knew that what was happening wasn't normal, natural, ordinary. It was an overreaction. Except it wasn't. It was like letting something loose, something dangerous and dark and alive-

But she felt nothing other than the cold tingling spreading through her skin.

It took her a moment to realize what it was.

_Power_.

The sheer amount of it nearly took her breath away.

Then she was being jerked backwards, literally and figuratively, out of the current and the secretary's face disappeared to be replaced by hands on her face and a familiar face in her vision. Short blonde hair, pale skin, worried frown, blue eyes that she knew like the back of her hand-

_Oh, God, Bobby-_

Hela gasped, everything suddenly falling back into startling clarity. She felt the ground beneath her feet, her best friends' hands on her face, heard the shouting and screaming. The moment passed and Hel blinked as she sucked in deep shuddering breaths. God, what was _that?_

"-swer me, Hel, please, you're scaring the shit out of me, please, oh, God, please, please, you're so cold-"

Her hands found his shirt and she grabbed on for dear life as her knees suddenly felt too weak to hold her up. He guided her to the ground as the chaos around them continued.

Feeling like the air had been punched out of her, Hel gasped, "Bobby-"

"Shhh, Hel, its alright, I swear, you're fine," the pale teen whispered, sounding more as if he was trying to convince himself.

Bobby looked scared, she noted, and he never looked scared, so that was a good enough reason to worry-

Hela's hands came up to grab Bobby's, but she paused when she saw him flinch. Immediately she pulled her head away to look at his hands. Covering the once smooth skin was dark blistering skin that made her cringe.

It took her a moment to realize what it was:

Frostbite.

"Bobby, what-"

Before Hel could finish, there was a mighty crash at the front of the lobby. She turned just in time to see a flash of red and gold fly through the front doors- Or what was left of them. All the glass in the doors and windows had shattered into millions of pieces, glittering on the floor like diamonds.

She didn't have very much time to marvel at this as the very thing that had flown through the door was currently pointing a repulsor in her face. That repulsor was attached to the shiny, polished armor of the Iron Man suit, which was glaring stonily down at them.

Before Hel could even let her jaw drop, an mechanic sounding voice spoke. "Alright, Loki, the jig's-"

Iron Man paused for a moment and tilted his head to the side just a bit. After a few tense moments of silence (by now the lobby had cleared and the only noise was an annoying alarm going off in the background), he said, "You aren't Loki."

Hel found her breath again. In a small voice, she said, "No, I'm not-"

"But," he continued as the repulsor whined as it charged, "you sure as hell look like him, and that's good enough reason for me."

* * *

…**I know. I'm evil. ;) **

**But this chapter is 13 pages long and I finished it last night truthfully and I have to get to my homework and I think that this is a good enough place to stop as any, so…**

**On a sidenote: my take on the whole Captain America being reintroduced to the modern world was that SHIELD kept it under lock and key. America thought Steve died back in the forties. And I seriously doubt that Fury would let something like that Captain America is alive leak to the news... So I'm thinking that the world was really confused when they saw CA in Stuttgart. :)**

**Toodle-loo. :) **

**Remember, feedback feeds me. :) Hope this cleared up some questions. **

**(Lotsa smileys, huh?)**


	4. Never been so deep inside a shadow

**So… The Avengers finally meet Hel, and Loki makes an appearance. :) There is mischief, and there is chaos. But any story with Loki in it has to have a healthy dose of that. ;D **

**Note #1: This is where everything FINALLY starts speeding up. **

**Note #2: I'm assuming that those cuffs Loki was wearing at the end of the movie had some special tech in them, whether it be some Asgardian magic or electrocution developed by our favorite inventor, but anyways. I took a liberty with those.**

**Note #3: After the movie, I would bet that Tony would have had a miniature SHIELD base (or at least some interrogation rooms and holding cells) installed into the lower, underground, non-public levels of his tower once it became Avenger Tower. After all, if there's an emergency in the city, SHIELD agents right there will get there faster than from somewhere outside of the city, right? So they do have a larger base outside of the city, plus the Helicarrier, but then the small essentials in the underground levels of the tower. That's where a large part of this is set. **

**Note #4: Certain ideas are introduced in this chapter. Some of them will not be used. So before you quit this story because it may be turning down a Mary-Sue lane or too cliché… Just wait. :)**

* * *

Chapter 3: "I've never been so deep inside a shadow, I've never been so insecure of what I know" ~ _Gotta Figure This Out_, Erin McCarley

Well, things really did flip out after that.

Quite literally seconds after Iron Man had spoke, a big blur of red, gray, and blonde literally _flew_ through the empty windows and full on tackled him. Hel's hair whipped in her face and she heard Bobby curse wildly.

She blinked. What the heck was _that_?

Iron Man and the mysterious blur had crashed in the furthest wall, completely going through it into the next room. After a few moments of stunned silence, she heard the mechanized voice of Iron Man shout, "Damnit, Thor! I wasn't going to _shoot_ her! Now I'm going to have to replace this chest piece!"

After that, a team of people dressed like SWAT but with the SHIELD symbol filed in, guns raised and finger on the trigger. Before they could even move, the team had surrounded them. …With the guns pointed at them.

The first thing that popped into Hela's mind: _What an overreaction_.

Then there were cuffs being slapped on her wrists and Bobby's, and they were pulling them apart to drag them to opposite sides of the room. She barely managed to shout, "Don't tell them anything!" to her best friend as he was swallowed by the SHIELD agents.

Five hours later, Hel sat in a rather plain, stereotypical interrogation room rubbing at the tips of her fingers where the black fingerprint ink was stained. They had taken her fingerprints, done a few mug shots, and tried valiantly to try and get a sample of her DNA by offering her water bottles, coffee, and even gum. She hadn't fallen for it. She could only hope Bobby hadn't either.

In the interrogation room, there wasn't much. A metal table, metal chair (that was wielded to the floor and she was handcuffed to), and gray walls. The wall opposite of her had a big one-way mirror and in the corner of the room a security camera blinked.

It was all rather dull, she decided, even for her.

Either way, Hel was worried about Bobby. The frostbite burns looked painful. And while she had no idea what the hell had caused it, she was hoping that SHIELD was nice enough to offer him medical assistance.

If they hadn't… Well, there would be hell to pay.

* * *

"She does look like him, doesn't she?"

"Quite a bit."

"Think it could be our gal?"

"Maybe. But if so, why was she in New York? More specifically, Avengers Tower for that matter?"

"…It's too much of a coincidence."

"Exactly."

"Is Natasha going to interrogate her or are you?"

"Neither."

"Neither? Then who is?" A pause. "Surely not Thor?"

"That would be a biased interrogation. No, Stark's gonna do it."

Steve's jaw dropped. "_Tony?_"

"Yeah. Thor is too emotionally invested, you and Bruce aren't trained in interrogation, Tasha scares- well, everyone, and the Director says I'm too-" Clint paused, mouth curling in distaste, "_emotionally involved_, if this is Loki's kid. But he thinks Stark'll be able to connect better since she's just a kid." He shrugged, staring impassively through the one-way glass into the interrogation room. "Who knows? Maybe she'll be a fan and spill everything."

The captain bit his lip. "Is he even trained in interrogation?"

Clint's mask dropped and he grinned. "Nope, not a bit."

"Great."

The archer clapped him on the back. "No worries, Cap. He'll be hearing questions through an earpiece directed by Fury. Besides, she's just a teenager. It's not like she'll resist that hard."

"What about her friend?"

"We're pretty sure he's human, but from what we can tell, he isn't under a spell or anything. Tony said that his doohickey thing that picks up magic was going nuts about her, not her friend, which is how he knew she was in the lobby to begin with."

Steve frowned. "She was doing magic?"

"Cap, did you _see _the glass? It was all in pieces on the floor. Yeah, she was doing magic, but we don't know exactly what she was doing _with_ it-"

"Hey, what's she doing?"

Clint turned his attention back to the window just in time to see the girl pull out what must've been a bobby pin from her sloppy bun. Her dark eyebrows furrowed as she bent over her handcuff and set to work on breaking free.

They watched in silence for a few moments before the teen rolled her eyes and threw a bent bobby pin on the table. She pulled out another and set to work again.

Steve made a move towards the door, as if to stop her, but Clint put a hand on his shoulder. "Even if she gets out of those cuffs, there's not much she can do unless she decides to use some of that magic mojo to break out. That door is reinforced."

The captain still looked uneasy, but with a small nod he sat down in one of the two chairs in the observation room. After a few more moments of watching her, the soldier said, "Does this seem a little off to you?"

The archer snorted. "Yes, every last fucking bit. I don't like it."

"I mean, when we captured Loki back in Germany, it was so easy and turned out to be part of his plan. _This_ was too easy. What if it's the same thing?"

Clint crossed his arms, sighing a little. "I don't know, Cap. It all depends on whether or not she even knows exactly _who _Loki is. If what Thor said is true, then she doesn't even know she's an Asgardian."

"But she was using magic."

"I know, that's why _I don't like it_."

Through the glass, a look of surprise crossed the dark haired teen's face from where she was bent over the handcuffs. They watched as she pulled her hand out of the handcuff, still staring at it in surprise.

Clint huffed a laugh. "Well, damn."

At that moment the door to the observation room opened and in walked Tony, sipping from a Starbuck's coffee cup. He shot a grin to both the men and plopped down in the other chair, putting his feet on the table. "Hello, gents. Miss me?"

Steve looked at the feet that were now propped on the table before looking back to the billionaire. "Aren't you supposed to be in-" he pointed at the one-way glass, "there?"

Tony shook his head as he set his coffee on the table. "Not anymore. Phil kinda took that plan and threw it in the trash."

The archer standing behind him tensed up. "_What?_"

The genius shrugged and replied, "He wanted to do the interrogation himself. He was very convincing."

"What the hell is he thinking?! He's still recovering!"

Tony held his hands up. "That's what I said, but he threatened me with a taser."

Steve echoed, "A taser?"

"Don't give me that look; he's threatened me with one before."

"_What_ look-"

Clint cut in. "Look," he said sharply, "we can't just let a wounded man interrogate a potential threat alone. Maybe we can get Tasha in there after all-"

"Sorry, no can do, Legolas," Tony said, "she's helping Bruce do damage control with Thor. The big guy keeps insisting that we release his niece. And let me tell you, he is pissed that SHIELD is holding her like a criminal."

Steve looked back to the glass. "So she really is Loki's daughter."

"Thor seems to think so."

"Regardless," the archer snapped. "I am not going to stand by and watch Coulson interrogate the daughter of the person who stabbed him and nearly killed him."

"_Did_ kill him," Tony corrected. "Phil was dead for a total of two hours and 18 minutes. And it's too late."

Because just at that moment, Phil Coulson walked into the interrogation room looking as calm as ever.

* * *

Hel was actually surprised that she'd managed to get the handcuffs undone.

The only reason she'd tried to get them off was because she was bored and had never tried it before, so she had figured 'Why not?'. And it had actually worked.

She could mark that off her bucket list.

Hela waited for something to happen, someone to come inside and handcuff her again, this time on both hands. She waited. The security camera blinked dully. A small sigh escaped her.

With nothing to do, she stared at herself in the one-way mirror. No doubt there was someone on the other side, staring in at her, wondering just exactly what to charge her with. Probably vandalism.

It was at that moment she realized how utterly _screwed_ she was when her foster home agent found out.

Then she thought of Bobby's parents and winced.

She huffed a sigh and slouched in the seat so that the back of her head was resting on the back of the chair and her feet were propped in the chair on the other side of the table. Not the most comfortable spot, but it would work. Her fingers began rubbing each charm on her bracelet, one by one.

They could've at least let her keep her iPod. They'd taken everything. Their phones, iPods, her laptop, their luggage, even Bobby's camera that he used for his hobby of photography. Hel knew how much that camera meant to him, she'd bought it for him one Christmas, and she was damn well sure going to get it back if it was the last thing she did.

There was the sound of the locks on the door opening and she sat up straight in her seat.

There is one thing to understand about Hel: she's not surprised very often.

Sitting on the sidelines watching can not only be entertaining but also teaching. She's not a very dramatic, emotional person, usually quiet about her own opinions and feelings. She doesn't scream when something scares her (fire, fire scares her), she doesn't bust out laughing at something funny, no matter how funny it is, and she doesn't bother keeping her opinion of other people to herself if she sees what they're doing is wrong.

And usually, when she's surprised, the most reaction she gives is her eyes widening just a bit.

But this time, her jaw actually did drop.

Because the only soul to ever walk out of Helheim just walked into the interrogation.

And, yeah, she was pretty floored by it.

Agent Phil Coulson's lips twitched just the tiniest bit in what might've been a smile and he nodded to her. "Hello."

"Uh…"

He ignored her intelligent greeting and chose to sit down in the chair her feet had currently been occupying. In his hands he held a plain tan envelope that had a SHIELD symbol stamped on the front and a ton of papers stuffed in it.

Hel continued to stare at the dead-man-walking as he settled into the seat and flipped through the giant file like he had all the time in the world. Finally he looked up again, blue eyes sparkling with what she swore was amusement. "How are you?"

She almost forgot to answer. "Um. Fine." Her eyes flicked to where the ragged hole had been in his Men In Black suit, which looked exactly like the one he was wearing now save for the fact that it didn't have a bloody gaping hole in it. "How's the, um… Wound?"

That time Agent Coulson did smile. "Very well. I'm almost recovered."

Hela nodded, suddenly feeling very out of her element. Confusion did that to her. "Good. Glad it's all…better and you're not- You know. Dead."

Just a few seconds after she spoke a cell phone started ringing. The agent sighed a little but reached in his pocket to answer it. "Yes?"

Hel jumped at the sudden shouting on the other end.

Coulson blinked, completely unfazed. The shouting went on for a few moments before he cut the person off. "All will be explained in due time, Barton. Now, if you don't mind, I have an interrogation to continue." And with that he ended the call.

Putting it on the table, the agent clasped his hands in front of him on the table. "What do you want me to call you?"

The teen caught a glimpse of herself in the one-way mirror. She looked owlish. "Same as last time, I guess. Hel."

He nodded as if he had suspected that. "Okay, Miss Hel. Do you have a last name?"

Hela watched him carefully, looking for any signs of an ulterior motive. She felt she could trust Coulson, if anything, because she'd already met him in the Underworld. There wasn't anything hostile about the man, just the same calm, balanced soul she'd returned to the living.

Then it struck her.

She'd seen his _soul_. Surely that counted as something, right?

So despite all the warnings she felt about handing out information to a spy organization that she already didn't like, she said, "No. I'm an orphan. I live with a foster couple."

"I see," he replied, blue eyes understanding. "May I ask what you were doing in the lobby of Stark Tower?"

The teen hesitated, before answering truthfully. "Looking for answers."

Agent Coulson raised an eyebrow and asked, "Answers to what?"

Suddenly Hel felt hot, uncomfortable embarrassment flash over her. Her gaze slid to her bracelet and she started twisting the little charms just a little harder, a little faster. Fragile trust or not, if she told them just exactly why, they'd think she was insane. _She _thought it was insane. But she had come here to talk to SHIELD to begin with anyways. She just hadn't expected them to lock them up.

Hela blinked. Now that she thought about it, just exactly why did they treat her like she was a threat?

Flashes of glittering glass on the floor passed through her mind, and she thought, _Well, it might have something to do with the exploding windows._

Still… She had come looking for answers. She was going to find them. Even if she was locked up in an asylum.

Hel refocused on Coulson and asked with as much feeling as she could generate, "Can I trust you? Like, can you help me?"

The man tilted his head to the side a bit, but nodded. "As long as you're not threatening the security of the world, yes, I suppose you can. And as for helping you, I'll do whatever I can within my power."

The teen hesitated for a heartbeat, then, "I'm looking for Loki."

The agent didn't look surprised, or particularly like he thought she was insane. "We had figured as much."

She frowned. "What?"

Agent Coulson opened the file he had brought in and began leafing through the thick stack. He came to a section and pulled out a good portion of the papers and placed them in front of her. "We ran tests and a web analysis on your laptop to see what you've been doing lately on the web. There were several searches regarding Loki, Norse mythology, and SHIELD made in the past two months. In fact, the first one was on the very day that the attack on Manhattan was made." He pulled another section of papers out, this one only seven or eight sheets thick. "We also found this Word Document containing lengthy research into what you were searching on the Internet."

When he set them in front of her, Hela hesitantly reached out to examine the papers. They were indeed a record of her web searches and websites she'd visited along with the Word Document.

For a moment she wondered if they would try to jail her for downloading songs illegally. To come all this way and be taken down by a few hundred free songs would be something she would laugh at while in a jail cell.

Hel sighed, mostly because she didn't know what else to do. She just felt…tired. "Well, Agent Coulson, what happens now?"

He had clasped his hands in front of him again. "You tell me, Hel. Exactly why are you looking for Loki?"

"Because he has the answers to my questions."

"And what questions would those be?"

Hel looked the agent in the eye and willed him to understand. "…A little over a year ago, I met him in a dream."

"A dream?"

"Yes. The same place I met you."

Coulson nodded, his face as blank as ever. "What happened?"

Up until this point, she had kept her hands under the table in her lap. But with lingering doubt Hel pull her right hand from under the table and placed it where the agent could see. Fingering the small fire charm, she showed it him. "We talked and he gave me this before he left."

He stared at the glinting gold curiously for a few moments before his eyes flicked back to meet her own. "May I see it?"

Hela instantly tensed up at the thought of taking off the bracelet. She cursed herself for wearing shorts instead of jeans. If she took it off, everyone would be able to see the discoloring on her legs. And it was sure to make someone suspicious if they noticed that she came in with pale legs and walked out with bruised skin.

A knot of unease in her stomach, she scooted forward in the seat so her legs were hidden under the table. If Coulson gave it back before she had to get up, then no one would have to see.

So with shaking fingers she unclasped it and set it on the table.

Immediately she felt the loss of whatever covered the ugly color of her legs and tried to hold in a small, panicked breath. The agent picked up the bracelet like it was delicate while Hel gripped her hands tensely under the table.

After a few silent moments of examining each little charm on it, Agent Coulson asked, "Would you mind if I took this in to have it scanned?"

She tensed up and replied in barely a whisper, "I'm not sure if that's a good idea."

"I promise to return it to you in the condition it is now."

Hel took a deep breath and tried to steady herself. "It's not that, but…" _Damn._ "I just don't want to part with it. It…means a lot. To me." _God, how cheesy was that?_

Coulson watched her contemplatively for a few seconds before he said flatly, "I'll see what I can do."

And with that he pulled his phone out again.

"Stark, I need you in here with a scanner." Without another word he flipped it shut.

* * *

"I will not allow my niece to be held as a criminal, Director."

"Thor, we don't have any other option."

The thunderer's blue eyes flashed and there was a slight rumble outside. "The Man of Iron informed me that part of the mortal law is that you cannot hold a person without just causes. She has not wronged you or this planet. You _must_ release her."

Director Fury's hand slammed down on the table, almost echoing in the private conference room. "Well, how exactly are we supposed to make sure she damn well doesn't turn out to be her father's daughter and start killing people, then? We can't let her back into public, that's for sure. The only place we can watch her closely is here, surrounded by SHIELD agents."

Thor's fists clenched at the words of Loki and he took a step forward, but Bruce put a placating hand on his shoulder. "Hold on just a second, Thor. He has a point. We can't just let her roam the streets."

Natasha, who had been standing off to the side silently with her arms crossed, finally spoke up. "Can't we put tails on her?"

Fury shook his head, looking grim. "It wouldn't be enough."

"Clint and I-"

"Even if you and Agent Barton were tailing her, it wouldn't be completely foolproof. This is _Loki's daughter_. She needs to be watched 24/7."

Suddenly Thor stood a little straighter and looked a little more determined. "Hela can stay at Avengers Tower, with us to watch over her."

Both Natasha and Fury exclaimed, "_What?_" while Bruce just muttered an, "Oh, Jesus", and ran a hand through his hair nervously.

The god grinned with a confidence that seemed almost a little too sure. "Under the watch of my fellow Avengers and I, we could properly assure that Hela is safe and not following the path of my brother. It would be the opportune chance to reintroduce her to her true heritage again while we search for her brothers."

Bruce bit his lip. "Thor… That probably isn't a good idea."

"It's a very _bad_ idea," Fury insisted.

"Agreed," Natasha said flatly.

"The Avengers can barely watch themselves," the director said, "and you want them to watch a teenager that may or may not be working with her father for world domination. I think we'd have a better chance on keeping her here under the watch of _properly trained_ SHIELD agents."

Natasha sniffed, looking elegantly offended.

Thor's grin turned to a dark glower. "I will not have my niece held by those who would wish ill fortune upon her once they learned of her parentage."

"Then what exactly could we do with her, Thor?"

"As I said, Hela can stay at Avengers Tower whilst we locate her brothers-"

"And I'll say it again: bad fuckin' idea."

Bruce cleared his throat, breaking up what was beginning to look like a physical fight between the thunderer and the director of SHIELD. "Ultimately, I'd say that decision comes down to Tony, right? I mean, it is _his_ tower. He should be able to say if he wants her to stay there or not."

Fury practically growled out a 'damnit' and Thor grinned again. "Surely the Anthony of Stark will see the reasoning behind my proposition."

The scientist scratched the back of his head uncertainly. "Um… I'm sure he will, Thor."

Natasha snorted just the tiniest bit and sent him a look that said, 'You shouldn't have said that'.

* * *

Hel watched with some wariness and what might have been a tad defensiveness as billionaire Tony Stark had a conversation with his phone and Coulson as he scanned her bracelet. Okay, so maybe it actually wasn't his phone, but rather the AI – Jarvis? – and from what she'd seen, Siri didn't have anything on Jarvis.

"-ridiculous, if you wanted me to get an _accurate _scan, you should let me take this to my lab. The chance of having a correct scan using my phone to get readings is- Oh, eighty-eight percent at best. In my lab-," and on and on and _on_. How much could one man _talk_?

It was eerily like Bobby, Hela mused as she watched the inventor tapping on his phone with one hand and holding her bracelet in the other.

Then: _Oh, crap, Bobby-_

"Did anyone help my friend with, um, his hands?"

Coulson nodded. "His hands were attended to as soon as you were brought in. He'll be fine."

Hel swallowed as some of the tension eased out of her shoulders. "Good."

Stark suddenly stopped tapping on his phone, eyes zeroing on her. "You know, funny thing. Your buddy had frostbite all over his hands. Any idea how that got there?"

The teen felt like she shrunk under his almost accusing gaze. In a whisper she said, "No."

He held her gaze, eyes practically screaming, 'But don't you?'.

Then just as suddenly the billionaire was back on his phone, the moment completely gone. "Alrighty then. Hold still for a sec."

Next a phone was being shoved in her face, a bright blue light scanning over her. Other than blinking in surprise, she didn't move.

After a few seconds there was a beep. Stark's eyes flitted over the screen. "Okay, then. Well, this isn't weird at all."

Both Hela and Coulson looked expectantly at him to elaborate.

The genius hesitated, glancing at Hel dubiously before turning back to Coulson. "I thought you SHIELD agents were sticklers for keeping confidential findings under wraps, especially from potential suspects." He jerked a thumb in the direction of Hel and she glared at him.

The SHIELD agent sighs. After a moment's debate, Coulson said, "Hallway", and stood up stiffly, from what Hel guessed was the healing wound that she'd seen in Helheim.

She watched them walk out the interrogation room, and it wasn't until the door had closed until she realized that Stark still had her bracelet in his hand. Immediately a wave of chills broke out over her and her throat closed up.

Before the teen registers what she's doing, she's half standing. Hel nearly took the few steps to the door to get back what she thought of as her most prized possession before she stopped and actually thought.

It wasn't like they were going to take it. They weren't going to steal it. They weren't going to pawn it like that blonde bitch in school had threatened to last year because she hated Hel.

…Now she was just overreacting.

With a cross between a whine and a groan she plops back down in the seat. Was this what separation issues were like? Because this obsession with the bracelet was not-

Hela's train of thought derails and crashes when an explosion shakes the tower enough to knock her out of her seat.

Which is to say: _enough_.

Because that damn chair was wielded to the floor and there should have been no way in hell (heh) that she could have fallen out of it. But she did and now she's on the floor and she's hurting where she hit the floor and the lights are out and her head's ringing.

That's when she realizes that's not her head ringing, but an alarm.

_Shit._

Hela groans and tries to get up, but she really did hit her head when she fell and it hurt. So she'll take her time while whatever the heck is going on outside her little interrogation room is sorted by people who know what they're doing-

Except someone doesn't give her that option.

Rough hands are grabbing her arms and dragging her up against her will before she has a chance to fight back. She has never been one to scream, but she will use force, so when they do get her up, she does kick out as hard as she can and nail some poor guy in the knee.

In response, she gets cursed at and something cold and metal shoved against her head. It's a moment before she realizes what it is.

A gun.

That completely drains the fight out of Hel, enough that she's left feeling cold on the inside and she gathers her wits about her.

The two agents dressed like SWAT agents drag her from the interrogation room to a war zone. The lights are out here too, and little red lights are flashing in time with the alarm sound. Papers were scattered everywhere like a great wind had came through and blown them away. Plainclothes agents were rushing back and forth shouting, most going down the right hallway. …Which was where the agents that had her were dragging her.

They shouted things Hel couldn't make out into their helmets as they kept an iron grip on her. People cleared paths for them as them saw them, and it scared her that most of them looked at her with fear and hate.

They turned a corner, and that's when Hel ceased being scared and started being angry and confused.

Standing there with multiple SHIELD agents pointing guns at his head was Loki. He was choking a very surprised, very pissed looking Tony Stark by the throat against the wall in one hand and in the other hand he was clutching Hel's bracelet. There were shadows and green wisps of energy dancing across his entire body, giving off the pure aura of power.

And, most of all, he looked _angry_. No, not just angry, but downright murderous.

That's what scared Hel. This was nothing, _nothing_ like the man she had met a year ago.

This was a someone ready to kil-

"_Loki!_"

The specially trained agents don't so much as flinch at the commanding voice, but Hela does look to see a black man in a trench coat of all things with an eye patch and a pistol aimed at Loki's head move up behind the group of agents already surrounding him. His face is fierce when he says, "Put him down. _Now_."

The god either doesn't hear him or doesn't frankly care. If possible he leans closer to the billionaire, pale face sharp and menacing when he barely utters, "_Where_ did you get this?" And he tilts his head towards Hel's bracelet.

Stark's eyes don't even flicker as he shoots a thin grin back at Loki. "Sorry, that's classified."

The hand pinning his throat tightened and Loki's green eyes literally flashed a bright poison green. "_Where is she?_"

He sounded so angry, so cold, so_ murderous_, and all at once Hel started struggling again because if she didn't something bad was going to happen, something like Loki murdering Tony Fucking Stark right in front of her all because he had her damn bracelet-

Her elbow strikes one of the agents in the chin (probably hurting her more than him, because she was a wimp). He snaps at her, "You little bitch!", and grabs her arm to the point where circulation is probably being cut off and wrenches it behind her back again. It hurts. A lot. It makes her angry, angry enough to smash windows like earlier, but all she feels is an empty hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach. No power thrumming through her body, no feeling of buzzing on her skin. It's almost strangely disappointing, in retrospect she muses, because she could really use that right now to- well, do something.

…On second thought, she _can_ do something. And she's stupid for not realizing it earlier.

"_Loki!_" She shouts as loud as she can over whatever the man in the black trench coat is saying as a light brown-haired man runs up in a different SHIELD outfit than the rest, a bow drawn in his hands and a quiver of arrows on his back. "Stop! Stop _hurting_ him!"

If she'd had the time of day Hela would've been amazed at how many heads turned to look at her with incredulous glances.

So many things happened at once it was hard to count them all. Almost.

The one eye he had left went wide as the man with the eye patch said aloud, "What the fuck is she doing _out of her interrogation room_-"

The man with the bow gave her a grim look that flicked between Loki, herself, and the gun the agents were holding to her head.

Loki went still as a statue and the room suddenly dropped several degrees, so much so that Hela could see her breath.

The hallway became very silent, other than the shuffling of SHIELD agents, the background noise of the alarm, and- Thunder?

"Let her go." It was a quiet, flat demand, aimed at only the two agents holding Hel.

She could practically feel the hostility and tension bristle up on the agents as they were finally addressed. That's when she understood. They'd done this under their own orders. They weren't here under orders from some higher up. They'd done this of their own volition. They'd _wanted _this confrontation.

But the question was _why?_

She didn't exactly have time to analyze it and break it down like she did the book of Shakespeare poems Bobby had bought her for her last birthday. Even if she had had the time of day, the teen doubted that she'd been able to think clearly with the cold metal of a gun pressed against her head.

Hela's breath dances in small, short puffs of fog in front of her face. No one in the crowded hallway says a thing.

Then there's two sudden intakes of breath and the agents holding her crumple screaming bloody murder.

Hel's body instantly tenses at the raw, anguished sound and the sight of the two agents that had just been seconds away from blowing her brains out on the floor clutching their heads. It takes her only a moment to figure out what's happening and her head snaps around to zero in on Loki.

The dark, satisfied look on his face scares her.

What scares her more is the possibility that he could be killing the agents right now, right in front of her, because of her.

So she does the first thing she thinks of: she launches herself at the green and leather clad man and grabs the straps on that ridiculous outfit to pull him down to her level. "_Stop it!_"

He looks stunned at first, then confused. "I'm sorry?"

Hel shakes him forcefully, which isn't that much because Loki's so damned tall and built more than she is, but she still shakes him as hard as she can. The sounds of the agents screaming and the other people in the hallway freaking out is echoing in her ears. "You're _killing them!_"

The man's grip on Tony Stark hasn't wavered this entire time, but Loki seems to forget all about everything and everyone else now. "They were threatening yo-"

The teen literally growls out loud, pulling him even closer. "Stop. Killing. Them."

The god frowns like he's debating whether or not to listen to her. He better damn well listen to her, she thinks, or she'll plant her fist in his face.

The screaming dies down to quiet whimpers, and Hel lets out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. Her fists unclench from the leather straps and Loki leans back like she burned him.

"Uh," both Hel and Loki break their intense staring contest to glare at the billionaire still held in a choke hold, "Look-"

She grabs Loki's arm – and holy _cow_ was it freezing – and forcefully tugs until he drops Stark. The inventor shoots her a grateful glance and hastily scoots away while Loki sends her a look that is so disbelieving and taken back that _she's _offended.

"What?!" she snaps, throwing up her arms, because last time she checked _he _was the one going around trying to kill people.

His fists clenched at his sides and Loki hissed, "What are you doing?"

"What am _I_ doin-"

"Loki Laufeyson, Hela Lokidottir, hands in the air."

…_Lokidottir? The _hell?

* * *

They put her in a glass cage. A fucking _glass cage._

Albeit a high tech glass cage with different odd looking symbols painted on the glass walls from the outside, but still.

…That was also after they snapped some heavy, unfitting handcuffs around her wrists that were too big and thrummed like they had power in them.

The glass room was just a tad bigger than her interrogation room and had a simple hard cot and fold-up chair. An adjoining room that was thankfully not glass-walled opened to a white, pristine bathroom. Past the glass walls and white painted symbols Hel could see SHIELD agents running about, looking frazzled. Soon the crowd thinned out until all she as left with was a few menacing guards by the doors who ignored her.

Hela was pissed at this point.

She didn't know what was going on. At the moment, it seemed like everyone had lost their Goddamn minds. Freaking _Loki_, the key to the door of all her answers, was turning out to be the wrong key for the lock and an ass about it at the same time. SHIELD had been _so_ much help, throwing her in a cell and slapping some cuffs that didn't even fit on her. Bobby was somewhere other than here with her, which just flat out wasn't right. And as if that wasn't bad enough, they'd taken her damn bracelet, like Coulson had promised they wouldn't-

Hel stopped dead in her pacing. _Shit._

Unwillingly her ice blue eyes strayed down to her legs. Her breath caught in her throat at the sight of the dark, ugly bruised coloring.

Feeling that old, familiar sensation of dark loathing well up inside her like an old enemy, Hela sank down on the hard cot with her eyes squeezed shut and fists clenched together in the handcuffs.

* * *

"I demand to speak to my brother."

"No."

"Then I demand to speak to my niece."

"You're not gonna 'demand' anything, Thor."

The Thunderer's eyes flashed, and a distinct rumble of thunder could be heard. Before the god could call Mjolnir and make one fried Director of SHIELD, Steve stepped up and held a hand up. "Hold on a second, Thor. He has a point. Is it really such a good idea for you to be talking to Loki?"

"I do not know what you mean." The blonde god looked like he knew exactly what they meant, guarded expression and all.

"Well…" Steve trailed off.

"You have a tendency to piss each other off and bash each others face in whenever you talk," Clint said flatly from where he was sitting on the table cleaning his bow with a tense expression.

Bruce smiled a little and muttered, "That's one way to put it."

Thor huffed. "At least let me speak with Hela. She is an innocent in all of this."

"Innocent?" Natasha and Clint echoed disbelievingly while Fury snorted.

The god sighed, blue eyes darkening. "She, along with her siblings, have paid for centuries because of my family's decisions. Now that I have a chance to…fix my family's mistakes and salvage her relationship in the Aesir family, I want to take it."

Nearly all the rooms occupants sighed. "Thor…"

Fury huffed a sigh. "We're going to interrogate her again, and I'll be handling it personally this time. Thor, you can come with me since she may respond better to you."

The thunderer's face lit up.

"But no questions until I'm done, got it?"

He sobered a bit, murmuring his assent.

"Good. We'll pick up Stark from medical so I can get a complete report from the scanning he did earlier."

* * *

Hel's torn between crying or just screaming out. Which is unusual for her, to say the least. She's usually so sure of where she's at.

Crying is awfully tempting with the reminder of her bruised legs like a neon sign right in her face. She can't stop _staring_. Without thinking, she pulls the rough linen sheets off the bed and into her lap, effectively covering any and all gray as the white cloth spills like a waterfall onto the floor and over her feet.

Her fists clench, and unclench. She hates this for a million reasons. Clench, unclench. Repeat. Over and over and over and over and-

There's the hiss of the fancy, no doubt bulletproof door opening and Hel flinches.

She almost doesn't look up as Tony Stark, Thor, and the man in the black trench coat walked in, each in a different manner. For a man who had just been nearly choked to death hours earlier, he walked like he was on his daily walk. Thor looked grim and determined where the last man was closed off.

Hela stares at Thor, then at the cuffs on her wrists while thinking of the glass cage around her. Did they really think she was that much of a threat, enough to bring in one of the 'heavy-hitter's' of the Avengers, as the media had put it?

Well. She couldn't decide if that was flattering or disturbing that the government was afraid of a teenage girl.

"Ahem."

…And she should really pay more attention.

All three of them were focused on her, laser-like and sharp in their own way. The man with the eye patch started off with, "Miss Hel, you are aware of who Loki Odinson is, correct?"

_Stupid question_. Judging from how Stark rolled his eyes, he thought so, too.

"Yes."

"Then why in God's good name would you be _searching him out_?"

These were basically a repeat of what Coulson had asked her. Hel liked Coulson better. "Because I need answers," she said flat out, like that would explain everything.

The man paused a beat, waiting for an answer, then said a little more forcefully, "Care to explain answers to what? Or how you know Loki has them?"

She glared at him. Coulson was definitely better. "Don't I get a lawyer? And handcuffs that actually fit?"

Stark said, "Well, those actually weren't designed for you and they're the only ones we have, so-"

Eye-Patch glared at him, cutting in. "So you claim to have had no previous encounters with Loki?"

Hela threw her hands in the air as best as she could. "How could I? All I've done is come to New York and completely screw up whatever chance I thought I had at this."

He leaned in closer, intimidating. "You seemed awfully familiar with him in that hallway earlier."

She resisted leaning back and swallowed the feeling in her throat as the lie came easy. Which, it was really a half-truth. "Yeah, well, he was killing two of your agents and Ton- Um, Mr. Stark."

"Thanks for that, by the way," Stark said to her, tilting his head to her as he crossed his arms. Uncomfortable, the teen nodded and mumbled an apology.

"They'll be paying for that," said Eye-Patch, "seeing as you weren't to be removed from your interrogation room in the first place."

"So they're okay?"

Eye-Patch stared at her like she was an alien. She was getting that a lot more lately. "Yeah, they'll be okay."

Thor, speaking up for the first time, said, "Director, I would like to speak to m- Hela alone."

Well, this could be her chance. The 'Director' cast another suspicious look at her but gave the Avenger a tight nod before stalking out of the room. As the door hissed open for him, Hel kinda wished it would hit him on the way out. Sadly, it didn't.

Surprisingly, Stark didn't leave with him, and she wasn't quite sure if she was grateful for that or not.

In her distraction Thor had taken the only chair in the room and pulled it closer to her bed. It was odd to see the giant rock of a man leaning forward in a fold-up chair and clasping his hands together somewhat nervously.

Something at the back of her mind was bothering her, whispering too faint words as she looked into the god's open blue eyes and _saw_ something.

Something familiar.

"Hela?"

She blinked.

"Do you know who I am?"

She hesitated as the memories of mythology web pages and old paintings or carvings of God of Thunder flashed through her mind. "…Yeah, I do."

He smiled, gentle and small like the action might scare her. This whole thing scared her. "I know this may sound…strange, but do you perhaps…remember me?"

Hel frowned. She should. She knew. The thing at the back of her mind whispering told her. "No."

The – dare she say it – hopeful light in his eyes dimmed just a little and his smile grew even smaller, even sadder.

"But I should, shouldn't I?" She reached up to run a hand through her hair, brush it out of her face, something, and the action just reminded her that she was in too-large handcuffs.

Tony Stark stepped forward, smiling apologetically and reaching for the cuffs. "Sorry about that. SHIELD gets a little over-excited when it comes to restraining prisoners. It's a weird kink, if you ask me."

Hel watched him press and slide panels on the plating of the cuffs, experienced hands working fast. It was like a puzzle, one that she could never have figured out, and in seconds there was a beeping noise and the hinges on both of the cuffs snapped open making her jump a little.

"Hela," Thor continued as the inventor took the handcuffs, leaving her to rub her wrists, "I do not believe you told Director Fury the truth when you said that you had never encountered Loki before."

She bristled at first (she hated being called a liar, even if it was true), but then she saw the open look on his face. It was kind of hard to lie to that raw, open honesty.

Hel sighed, "I told Coulson already."

"Well, tell us," Stark said flatly.

"I…met him in a dream."

"That's specific."

"Tony," Thor rumbled in that thunderous tone that clearly said 'shut up'.

The billionaire held up his hands. "Sorry, just saying."

The teen continued, wondering how much she could tell them before they thought she was crazy. "Um… This is going to sound insane, but ever since I can remember, I've always had the same dream." She frowned, thinking about it. "…And yet, it's not the same dream every time."

Thor looked away. "In this dream, are you…in a fortress?"

"Yeah, I guess, if you want to call Elivdnir that."

Surprisingly, they both didn't shoot her questioning looks at the odd name. They just looked more alert.

Hel feels her gaze go a little unfocused, thinking about the marbled halls that felt so right when she there. "And in Elivdnir, I'm Queen. Of Helheim. I have a manservant named Ganglati and a maidservant named Ganglot. Each night I direct souls into different levels of Helheim, based on their sins. Each night there's different souls waiting. Each night is different."

Stark said incredulously, "And you never thought that was a little bit weird?"

She snapped back to focus and glared at him. "Yes, I thought it was weird, but there's a lot of things about me everyone considers 'weird'. If I went around telling people I had the same dream every night that I was queen of a mythological Underworld, don't you think I'd be in some asylum in a straightjacket right now?"

He shrugged. "Okay, point."

"When did you meet Loki in these dreams?" Thor interrupted.

Hela twisted her fingers into the sheets, remembering seeing Loki on the TV attacking Manhattan and trying to compare it to the same man she'd met in her dream. "A year before the attack on Manhattan."

The inventor and God of Thunder shared a look. "That'd be, what, a month or two after-," Tony started, but Thor cut him off with a curt, "Yes."

She looked between them, curiosity kindled. A month after what, she wondered.

"In this dream," the god asked, "what did he do? What did he say?"

Hela hesitated. She felt like by sharing what had happened, she was sharing something intimate. Something that had been between just herself and Loki. But still. "We went for a walk and talked. He showed me a part of Helheim I've never been in before. When it was time for him to leave, I…asked him if I'd see him again, and he said he planned on making it happen."

The teen frowned to herself. Part of her wished she could go back to that walk. Everything was so much simpler, so much more ordered then.

Shaking herself out of it, she added, "He also gave me a bracelet."

Stark reach into his pocket, pulling out said golden bracelet. "This one?"

She wanted to be mad that he had kept it for so long, but part of her still felt bad that he'd be throttled by Loki just because he had the bracelet. He was still a little disheveled from said throttling and she could see bruising around his neck. So she let her anger go for the moment and held her hand out for it. "Yeah, that one. Can I have it back now?"

He seemed more amused than anything at her irritation. "Sure thing, kid. Catch."

Hel caught the charm bracelet in the air. Immediately the cool of the metal seeped into her skin and she instantly felt better from just holding it. Wasting no time, she slipped it around her wrist and felt the familiar tingle. A weight lifted from her shoulders.

Thor was frowning at her, or more specifically the bracelet, as she pulled the sheets off her legs and was secretly relieved to see smooth pale skin. "There is magic infused in that bracelet. I can sense it. But it is not completely Loki's magic. It is…tainted."

Hel determinedly started studying the jewelry for any damage. Nope, she didn't know anything about magic. Nothing at all.

Stark said, "Yeah, about that: when I scanned her and it, I got some _weird_ readings, Thor. The frequencies match up with both Loki's magic and the energy given off by the Cube."

A picture of a Rubik's cube popped into her head and she bit her lip to keep from smiling.

The thunderer paused, thinking that over. Then, "That is worrying."

"Something we agree on," the inventor muttered, then asked, "Hel, has anything changed since he gave you that bracelet?"

Hela wondered briefly if he'd seen her legs earlier in the hallway when Loki was attacking, but she guessed with all the action he hadn't noticed. "Like what?"

He gave her a knowing look. "Like, oh, I don't know… Exploding windows? Frostbite hands? Hiding the true color of your legs?"

Her eyes shot up to finally look him in the face. "I don't know what you're talking about," she lied.

Thor leaned forward a little to get her attention. "Hel, please. We must know if we are to help you."

When he put it like that and gave her that look… With the sense that she was making a mistake, the teen unclasped the bracelet and let it drop into her lap. The illusion on her legs faded and the gray bled into the pale skin, tainting it until it was all mottled gray bruising. She looked away so she didn't have to see their reactions.

Stark let out a low curse and Thor didn't say anything. The corners of her mouth twisted at the familiar dark emotion that arose from showing anyone the true colors of her legs.

A large, warm hand on her knee made her jump and she looked up. Thor was smiling at her, truly happy.

Hela blinked. What?

The god said with warmth, "Do not be ashamed, niece. If I harbored any doubts that you were truly who I thought you to be, they are gone now."

"Niece?" she repeated, feeling detached from her body.

He smiled wider, blue eyes twinkling. "You are my niece, Hela. Loki is your father. You are Hela Lokidottir."

She blinked. There it was again. _Lokidottir_.

Somewhere in the distance, she heard Tony Stark say, "…Thor, big guy, I think you broke her…"

Something gripped her head, and it was a few seconds before she realized it was her own hand.

By all rights, she should be saying, _You're crazy. You're insane. My father? Bullshit._

But she wasn't. Because she'd thought the very same thing. It was what inspired this whole trip, the little crazy, insane idea that she was daughter of a mythological god who wasn't so mythological up until a few months ago.

Still. Hearing the actual words said out loud and confirmed…

It was like being sucker punched.

She took a deep breath. Lowered her hand. Said as steady as she could manage, "I want to see him."

The inventor said, "Um…", and Thor looked happier. "I had guessed that you might. He will be very happy to see you."

* * *

**And there we have it, folks. Took me forever, but in my defense, I battled through writer's block, bronchitis, and a sinus infection to finish this. **

**NEXT CHAPTER:**** We finally get to the part I've been excited to write! Hel and Loki meeting in real life. But be warned, the reunion won't exactly be all hugs and tears… Also, we finally find out what the hell happened to Bobby, and where things go from here. Here's a hint: out of this world. ;) **


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